I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
( Philippians 1:3-6 )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The book of Philippians is one of my favorite books next to book of John and Romans. The reason for this is that while Paul was in prison the very tone and theme is joy and encouragement. You can see this in a number of spots, but so very strongly in the fourth chapter in the fourth verse where he writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice. I must say how many us in place of trials say such words of encouragement. Most times sad to say we do not show such attitudes and I pray that if you have not read the book of Philippians all the way through do so. Find encouragement and see that in all times the Lord can and will provide encouragement. Not to mention He will get us through our trials for He never leaves us nor forsakes us( Hebrews 13:5 ). With this said I pray that tonight I can encourage as I dig into the Holy Writ.
In verse 3 the apostle states that he thanks God for every remembrance of you. You know this is something I do think of often. What I mean by this, is how often do we think of our brethren when we depart from their presence. Do we thank God for them. Do we recognize the blessing of the fellowship of which the Lord has so granted us. I think of how many unregenerate, carnal, lost people I encounter daily, but how thankful am I honestly of the fellowship with my brethren. Truly this can bring a man or women who loves the Lord their God to ones knees in thankfulness for every brother and sister the Lord has blessed them with. Here in jail the Apostle Paul is writing to the church in Philippi and showing I do believe his dear love for his brethren there. My friends what a lesson we can learn from this I do believe in that we need not take for granted those whom the Lord blesses us with, but instead value the fellowship.
Then in verse four Paul continues with showing this love and care for his brethren that ,"Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy". Let us take a moment to examine that statement. So in all of his prayers for his brethren he makes their requests with joy. Meaning one my friends as I stated previously that the brethren are not just on his mind when he sees them. Two they bring him great joy. Now granted this joy in no measure compares to the joy in which Christ gives him, but my friends when we think of brethren it should bring thoughts of joy for these are our brothers and sisters. This again may come to a problem I mentioned last night where we have wrong ideas of such terms. This is why I am so picky or should I say careful on whom I call "brother" and "sister". The reason being is this I'm not just going to call anyone this as these terms I truly should believe should be saved in the most sincere sense for those who seek to do the will of the Father. We need not be flippant with the usage of words and be more sincere. Truly when I call someone brother or sister I mean it. So I ask when you make requests for your brothers or sisters in prayer do you do so with joy? Another way to state this is do you wish for the Lord's will in their situations and that by this it enters you into joyfully praying for them? Truly we all need to pray like Jesus ,say Lord Your will be done and mean it. I honestly believe this will help bring about joyful prayer requests for we will be leaning completely and wholly in the providence of Lord and placing our trust in Him.
The Apostle Paul then explains even more his joy of his brethren in detail in verse five. He states of their fellowship of the gospel from the beginning until now. Another words Paul is stating since their conversion they have stayed true to the faith. As you will see in verse six Paul bringing in a theme here which today is debated to some measure and that is assurance of salvation. Of course it is phrased a number of ways, but the most common heard today is "Once Saved Always Saved." Now while I do agree that once the Lord saves a person they will never be lost, I do not like the phrasing that is used. I'd prefer some other terms to use," Blessed Assurance or Perseverance of the Saints " Now my view on this is neither popular or well thought of, but it is biblical much to what the trend of a lot of modern evangelicals have gone.
Let us examine scripture,let it be what gives us the answer and not the precepts of men nor tradition. Here we have a familiar passage from the Psalms," Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. ( Psalm 23:6 ). " Here David is speaking of the goodness and mercy of God which shall follow him all the days of his life. That for one indicates something there for if it should follow all the days of his life there I believe that statement to be quite obvious. Then following in this verse states that I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Well, my friends as you know one, David was human just as us so there is no way he could physically dwell in the temple(physical building) forever, two the temples both built at different points in Israel history were destroyed so this leaves, but one logical and possible conclusion David was talking about and that is dwelling with the Lord forever. Even David recognized that the Lord was the one who upheld him,sustains him, and guaranteed his eternal salvation.
So now drawing back to the passages and moving to verse six and let us see where Paul talks on how the saints at Phillipi will persevere till the end. He states one that his confidence is in God. See I take it most times when one who has the same theological view I have or just believes God secures the eternity of believers that people become immediately opposed to it. The first thing you must address is this, in this verse Paul states of the confidence of this perseverance of the saints is kept by God. Remember scripture indicates to us God doesn't lie( Titus 1:2 ), is unchangeable, and is faithful. With these characteristics in mind when Paul says that he is confident that he(God) who began a good work will finish it. Brethren be sure we can cash our checks and place our bets for God will complete the work in which He truly begins. The biggest problem I've seen to opposing this is they think eternal security gives people the right to live how they wish and what I don't understand is how so. Truly the regenerate man instead is thankful to know he can't lose that which is purchased by God and so seeks to glorify God in all he does. Granted we make errors and do sin, but through godly sorrow we are brought to repentance and grow in sanctification. To say someone can lose their eternal salvation or give it up is ridiculous. To me I once stated this to a pastor not as a question,but as a statement. What value does eternal salvation have if we can lose it when we neither earned it nor merited the earning of it? Think about that my friends and please do digest on that thought.
Brethren be encouraged by this that one do you think of your brethren? As I stated earlier not just when your with them. I encourage you to give them a call sometime, drop an email, or any other means. You never know how much encouragement you can provide remember we are to encourage one another. Another point addressed are you when you bring prayers of your brethren do you bring them joyfully? Now granted some do have a measure or theme sadness,but can you joyfully pray knowing that ultimately you are seeking "Lord Your will done" for them and that will bring comfort and of course joy. Believe me those are four of the hardest words for our flesh to say in prayer,but remember as I stated last night prayer is not a laundry list,but it is about our will being conformed to the will of God. Lastly know this that if God has truly saved you He will keep you. Take comfort in this and thank God. May this blessed assurance give us an attitude of gratitude. Now I leave you with these words of encouragement.
" Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.Abstain from all appearance of evil. "
(1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 )
Good night and God bless,
John W. Whybrew III <><
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Lord's Prayer ( Matthew 6:9-13 )
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
( Matthew 6:9-13 )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems some time since I've been able to write to my brethren here and I pray this encourages you tonight. I believe an area that is very fundamental in a believer's life is prayer. For in prayer we have direct access to the Father through Christ Jesus by the Spirit. What a privilege and a blessing to know He is there whenever we need Him, but more than that He knows our very needs before we ask( Matthew 6:8 ). Now tonight I'm going to dive into some familiar passages in scriptures ones I do believe a majority if not all Christians have read. These passages are known as the Lord's prayer and it is also seen in the Gospel of Luke( Luke 11:2-4 ). Here the Lord shows the disciples directly and us indirectly how to pray. My prayer is that through this God may be glorified and my brethren will see how prayer life is not one of bringing a laundry list to God. Instead prayer is direct communication between the believer and God where it conforms our will to His will. Now I will begin to divulge into the passages of scripture.
Beginning in verse nine Jesus describes to us God as Father. How intimate and personal that is. This here shows the very personal relationship the believer has with God. Here Jesus is sharing with His disciples God is not far off or impersonal, but cares about His own. Think about the very words of our Lord and Saviour, " Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (John 15:14-15). Something I was thinking about as well when thinking of this passage is as men too often people get a bad misconception of God as father. The reason for this is the father some people have treat them bad or they never have a father. So right off they are measuring God based on their human parent. The problem comes from trying to measure the perfect, just, and holy God to fallen man. Instead what we need to do is measure our human guardians to our perfect Father in heaven who is faithful, unchanging, and the one who provide all good and perfect gifts. Truly when we instead look to the perfect Father for the standard we instead will have a better view of God for one and two a better view of how our fathers should seek to be.
This brings me to another thing that was on my mind. Men we do have two standards to which I believe we should strive to be like daily in our roles. One for those of us who are fathers may we seek to mimic God the Father in His loving attributes. May we seek to protect, defend, and care for our family daily as best we can. For those of us not married nor fathers, but in the roles of sons myself included may we seek to live to the standard of the perfect obedient son, that being the only begotten son, Jesus Christ. May we seek a life of obedience to our parents. May we strive to conform our lives daily to glorifying God so we bring our parents honor and be busy about the Father's business.
Continuing on with this verse Jesus also mentioned hallowed be thy name. Here stating that the name of God is holy and to be revered. Something I shared with a youth group who is very dear to me is when we approach God in prayer we need both be real and reverent. I believe if you read the psalms David wrote you will clearly see this illustrated so well. David never hid that things were bothering him or he was distressed. At the same time he continued showing reverence to God and of course the utmost confidence in God.
Here in verse ten Jesus lays the foundation for both His disciples and believers today to pray for the consummation of things to come. Another words for the end of this age. I believe every believer goes to bed at night thinking how much longer. As much as we wish to see others saved we grow weary of this world. Of course I have truly come to see how the Apostle Paul felt in Philippians 1:21 and I'm not in jail. This verse(v.10) directly ties with verse 11 that states your will, the will of the Father be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is we desire that all things on earth be done as is in heaven. I know this almost sounds elementary of an answer,but just as I stated earlier prayer is not us bringing a laundry list before God, but instead our will being conformed to His. Too often people do seem to pray God I want this or God I want that. You know this thought actually came to mind and an interesting analogy came to heart. Remember the words of JFK, " Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." This could in some measure be used to state what I'm saying about prayer, " Ask not what God can do for you, but what you can do for Him. " Think about my friends does He serve us or we Him? We need not think of Him as the divine butler, but instead we need to get our thoughts back on Him as the Lord God almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. We need to remember He is the Lord of Glory and He spoke this Earth into existence. We need to get our perspectives back in place.
Next in verse 11 we see how God daily supplies us with our very essentials. How thankful I am daily to receive a meal. You know every time we eat we should thank God. We should thank Him for it is Him who provides every single meal. You so many take for granted something as simple as a meal, but it the Lord who is our provider and we should give thanks as often as possible for this. I love how Todd Friel put it on a video I caught on youtube, that whenever our stomach growls we should look to Him. Not out of okay Lord now where is it coming from, but trusting He will provide. I think of this because the Lord continues to keep me in a job. With this I help provide some groceries at the house and meals out with friends. So yes the Lord most certainly provides my daily bread.
Jesus then goes on next to say forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Here stating something very important. One that soon very soon Jesus is going to pay for our debts on Calvary's cross. Two He is speaking of just as we are forgiven by God so should we forgive those who have wronged us. Yet something else I have shared both on here and with the youth group is I know forgiveness for I have been shown it. Truly by extending this forgiveness you show them true love and open the door for an opportunity to share the gospel. Remember that while yes they have wronged you holding grudges or doing them wrong will not solve anything much less is not showing love. Instead we need to seek to show them biblical love. How many times I've read 1 Corinthians 13 verses 4-7 and how sweeter it gets each time.
Then in closing Jesus speaks of the protection the Father provides from temptation. Notice how He states it," And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:" Our Lord knows the troubles that are ahead of us. First off you see this by Him telling us pray to not be led into temptation. This is we need to fill our mind with things that are good,just, honest, pure, lovely, and of good report( Philippians 4:8 ). In addition if temptation does rear its ugly head the Lord always provides a way out( 1 Corinthians 10:13). Now I've others and even myself in the past say I just don't understand what happened. Well, I can tell you what happened is a lack of trust in the Lord was a major reason. Too many times when temptation comes about instead of people relying on God they lean on their own understanding and I believe we all know were this ends up. I'm not saying this is the only reason, but this I do believe is a major cause. We need to instead trust upon the Lord completely for He will get us out 10 out of 10 times. Believe it or not the Lord has the best success rate.
Friends as you can see prayer is a reminder that all things are for His glory and to His praise. He is the perfect Father who provides for us daily both in our provisions and protection. May we learn to see our time in prayer not so much as list, but as a genuine pouring out of hearts before our Father in heaven. Since He knows our needs may we be real and both reverent before Him . My friends, my brethren take the time to go through the psalms in which David wrote and you will see exactly what I meant. I pray you find encouragement in this. I now leave you with this words from the Apostle Paul;
" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
( Romans 8:35-39 )
Good night and God bless,
John W. Whybrew III <><
---------------------------------------------------------
This was from last night and I apologize for forgetting to post on here. This is my first posting on here in sometime. So today there will be, Lord willing two devotionals posted. Good evening and God bless.
In Christ,
John W. Whybrew III <><
( Matthew 6:9-13 )
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It seems some time since I've been able to write to my brethren here and I pray this encourages you tonight. I believe an area that is very fundamental in a believer's life is prayer. For in prayer we have direct access to the Father through Christ Jesus by the Spirit. What a privilege and a blessing to know He is there whenever we need Him, but more than that He knows our very needs before we ask( Matthew 6:8 ). Now tonight I'm going to dive into some familiar passages in scriptures ones I do believe a majority if not all Christians have read. These passages are known as the Lord's prayer and it is also seen in the Gospel of Luke( Luke 11:2-4 ). Here the Lord shows the disciples directly and us indirectly how to pray. My prayer is that through this God may be glorified and my brethren will see how prayer life is not one of bringing a laundry list to God. Instead prayer is direct communication between the believer and God where it conforms our will to His will. Now I will begin to divulge into the passages of scripture.
Beginning in verse nine Jesus describes to us God as Father. How intimate and personal that is. This here shows the very personal relationship the believer has with God. Here Jesus is sharing with His disciples God is not far off or impersonal, but cares about His own. Think about the very words of our Lord and Saviour, " Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (John 15:14-15). Something I was thinking about as well when thinking of this passage is as men too often people get a bad misconception of God as father. The reason for this is the father some people have treat them bad or they never have a father. So right off they are measuring God based on their human parent. The problem comes from trying to measure the perfect, just, and holy God to fallen man. Instead what we need to do is measure our human guardians to our perfect Father in heaven who is faithful, unchanging, and the one who provide all good and perfect gifts. Truly when we instead look to the perfect Father for the standard we instead will have a better view of God for one and two a better view of how our fathers should seek to be.
This brings me to another thing that was on my mind. Men we do have two standards to which I believe we should strive to be like daily in our roles. One for those of us who are fathers may we seek to mimic God the Father in His loving attributes. May we seek to protect, defend, and care for our family daily as best we can. For those of us not married nor fathers, but in the roles of sons myself included may we seek to live to the standard of the perfect obedient son, that being the only begotten son, Jesus Christ. May we seek a life of obedience to our parents. May we strive to conform our lives daily to glorifying God so we bring our parents honor and be busy about the Father's business.
Continuing on with this verse Jesus also mentioned hallowed be thy name. Here stating that the name of God is holy and to be revered. Something I shared with a youth group who is very dear to me is when we approach God in prayer we need both be real and reverent. I believe if you read the psalms David wrote you will clearly see this illustrated so well. David never hid that things were bothering him or he was distressed. At the same time he continued showing reverence to God and of course the utmost confidence in God.
Here in verse ten Jesus lays the foundation for both His disciples and believers today to pray for the consummation of things to come. Another words for the end of this age. I believe every believer goes to bed at night thinking how much longer. As much as we wish to see others saved we grow weary of this world. Of course I have truly come to see how the Apostle Paul felt in Philippians 1:21 and I'm not in jail. This verse(v.10) directly ties with verse 11 that states your will, the will of the Father be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is we desire that all things on earth be done as is in heaven. I know this almost sounds elementary of an answer,but just as I stated earlier prayer is not us bringing a laundry list before God, but instead our will being conformed to His. Too often people do seem to pray God I want this or God I want that. You know this thought actually came to mind and an interesting analogy came to heart. Remember the words of JFK, " Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." This could in some measure be used to state what I'm saying about prayer, " Ask not what God can do for you, but what you can do for Him. " Think about my friends does He serve us or we Him? We need not think of Him as the divine butler, but instead we need to get our thoughts back on Him as the Lord God almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. We need to remember He is the Lord of Glory and He spoke this Earth into existence. We need to get our perspectives back in place.
Next in verse 11 we see how God daily supplies us with our very essentials. How thankful I am daily to receive a meal. You know every time we eat we should thank God. We should thank Him for it is Him who provides every single meal. You so many take for granted something as simple as a meal, but it the Lord who is our provider and we should give thanks as often as possible for this. I love how Todd Friel put it on a video I caught on youtube, that whenever our stomach growls we should look to Him. Not out of okay Lord now where is it coming from, but trusting He will provide. I think of this because the Lord continues to keep me in a job. With this I help provide some groceries at the house and meals out with friends. So yes the Lord most certainly provides my daily bread.
Jesus then goes on next to say forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Here stating something very important. One that soon very soon Jesus is going to pay for our debts on Calvary's cross. Two He is speaking of just as we are forgiven by God so should we forgive those who have wronged us. Yet something else I have shared both on here and with the youth group is I know forgiveness for I have been shown it. Truly by extending this forgiveness you show them true love and open the door for an opportunity to share the gospel. Remember that while yes they have wronged you holding grudges or doing them wrong will not solve anything much less is not showing love. Instead we need to seek to show them biblical love. How many times I've read 1 Corinthians 13 verses 4-7 and how sweeter it gets each time.
Then in closing Jesus speaks of the protection the Father provides from temptation. Notice how He states it," And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:" Our Lord knows the troubles that are ahead of us. First off you see this by Him telling us pray to not be led into temptation. This is we need to fill our mind with things that are good,just, honest, pure, lovely, and of good report( Philippians 4:8 ). In addition if temptation does rear its ugly head the Lord always provides a way out( 1 Corinthians 10:13). Now I've others and even myself in the past say I just don't understand what happened. Well, I can tell you what happened is a lack of trust in the Lord was a major reason. Too many times when temptation comes about instead of people relying on God they lean on their own understanding and I believe we all know were this ends up. I'm not saying this is the only reason, but this I do believe is a major cause. We need to instead trust upon the Lord completely for He will get us out 10 out of 10 times. Believe it or not the Lord has the best success rate.
Friends as you can see prayer is a reminder that all things are for His glory and to His praise. He is the perfect Father who provides for us daily both in our provisions and protection. May we learn to see our time in prayer not so much as list, but as a genuine pouring out of hearts before our Father in heaven. Since He knows our needs may we be real and both reverent before Him . My friends, my brethren take the time to go through the psalms in which David wrote and you will see exactly what I meant. I pray you find encouragement in this. I now leave you with this words from the Apostle Paul;
" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
( Romans 8:35-39 )
Good night and God bless,
John W. Whybrew III <><
---------------------------------------------------------
This was from last night and I apologize for forgetting to post on here. This is my first posting on here in sometime. So today there will be, Lord willing two devotionals posted. Good evening and God bless.
In Christ,
John W. Whybrew III <><
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