Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 6; Joshua 2
Today’s passage reminded me how often the Bible just “tells the story like it is” without any commentary on the morality of a person’s decisions. Was Joshua wrong to send the two spies to Jericho? I’m not sure. Was Rahab wrong to lie about the Israelite spies she was hiding? I think so, but once again I’m not sure.
But I am sure that God works even through the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad decisions that we make. God chose Rahab who had been a prostitute (clearly not a good choice) to be the great, great grandmother of that man after God’s own heart, King David. Rahab is the mother of Boaz, the worthy man who acted as the Moabite Ruth’s kinsman-Redeemer. (Matthew 1:5) I wonder if Boaz was more accepting of Ruth’s Gentile background because of his mother’s, so he would’ve better understood the transformative power of faith in God because of his own mother’s testimony.
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king….
Matthew 1:1-6 ESV
Have you made choices in your life that you wish today you could go back and erase? I have. And, yet, those very choices have made me the woman I am today. All I can say is, PRAISE GOD for where sin abounded, His grace abounded all the more.
Heavenly Father, Your mercy is more. Your power is greater. Your love is better. You are perfect in all Your ways, using the tangled webs of our lives to weave a masterpiece of Your glory. You have cleansed me and washed me white as snow in the crimson blood of Christ my Savior. Now take my life as a living offering of gratitude for Your saving grace. In the Name of Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, my sinless kinsmen-redeemer, I pray. Amen.
By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 5; Joshua 1
Growing up, I fought a persistent battle with fear, especially fear of death. As an atheist, my life was the mere result of random chance. I thought I was the master of my own fate, and I knew I was not a very good master. I was just one of five billion people in the world, weak in both the physical and moral sense of the word.
Fear is the natural by-product of a lack of faith in a good, all-powerful God.
As God prepares Joshua for his new job as leader of the Israelite nation, God is so kind to remind Joshua that He is going with him and that He is a promise-keeping God.
Friends, if you are a child of God, God is with you, too. He will not leave you or forsake you. He is with you WHEREVER you go. But you need to be strong and courageous to do the things He has called you to do.
If he wants to reach the Promised Land, Joshua will have to step into the rushing Jordan River. Likewise, if you want to follow God, you will have to take that first step of obedience.
That first step is often the scariest. Speaking up when it’s easier to be silent. Knocking on a new neighbor’s door. Saying goodbye to a boyfriend who’s no good for you. These are hard things, but if we never take that first step we will never see where the road leads. And taking that first scary step is oh so much less frightening when you know that the Lord has called you to it, and that He is with you.
I’m praying for you.
Heavenly Father, please help us to take that first step of obedience, to strike out into the unknown. Help us to be strong and courageous, believing without a doubt that You will never leave us or forsake us, that You are with us wherever we go. Please guide us by Your Holy Spirit. Convict us of our sin, our sins of unbelief, cowardice, and complacency. Help us to love You with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. For the glory of Your Name, and in the power of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen
My Teach What is Good Podcast is back! CLICK HERETO CHECK OUT TODAY’S VIDEO PODCAST ON YOUTUBE.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 2, Deuteronomy 31
First Moses told all Israel, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV
Next, Moses immediately summoned Joshua to tell him personally, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:7-8)
Over two years ago, I logged out of my Facebook account. I don’t miss it much. I’ve gained more than I’ve lost. But one thing I do miss is reading Sunshine Meister’s beautifully written testimonies of God’s daily sustaining grace in her life after her son Nahum’s traumatic brain injury in 2021. One morning I woke up thinking about her and tried to find a way to follow her somewhere other than Facebook, and I stumbled on this testimony on YouTube.
Her words will encourage you more than mine. To God be the glory. Do not fear or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you.
Sunshine Meister – Finding Comfort in God’s Presence
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 31, Deuteronomy 27-28
In Deuteronomy 27:14, the Levites (the priests) were told to declare a series of curses to all the men of Israel in a loud voice. After voicing these curses for disobeying God’s commands, then they were to declare the blessings for obedience, followed once again by more pronouncements of God’s judgment on their disobedience.
No one likes to tell others about the hard things going on in life. It’s so much more fun to just talk about the happy stuff – the joys of marriage, the highlights of homeschooling, the achievements of our children. Likewise, our churches are full of messages about HEAVEN and BLESSINGS and GOOD NEWS!
But, the thing is that only telling half the truth is really deceptive, and the GOOD NEWS is really so much sweeter when you know the BAD NEWS.
The bad news is that you are a sinner through and through.
The bad news is that on your own you can’t do anything good.
The bad news is that you deserve God’s wrath.
The bad news is that (apart from the saving grace of God) you are destined for eternity in hell.
The bad news is just as true as the good news.
The good news is that Jesus became a curse for me.
The good news is that Jesus delivered me from my path straight to hell.
The good news is that Jesus paid the price for my sin by His death on the cross.
The good news is that Jesus is my Savior and my Friend.
As the Lord’s chosen heralds, we have to tell the good news and the bad, the curses and the blessings. They’re both true and they both need to be proclaimed.
“This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:11-12 ESV
Heavenly Father, every Word of God proves true. You are indeed a shield to those who take refuge in You. (Proverbs 30:5) We deserve Your wrath for we are sinners, and yet You have saved us and covered us with Your love in the blood of Jesus. You are faithful and good and true. Make us likewise. Help us to be faithful and good and true. Help us to believe the truth and proclaim the truth – the whole truth, the bad news along with the good – that many might be saved. For Your glory and kingdom and in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord, we pray. Amen.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 30, Deuteronomy 26
The Lord has brought the people out of their slavery in Egypt, and now He is bringing them into this blessed land flowing with milk and honey. The commanded response, as well as the logical response of gratitude, is to offer back to God some of the fruit of this land – and not just any of the fruit, but the first fruits. Giving first fruits demonstrates faith and dependence on the Lord.
But, if I’m honest with myself (and with you), I must confess how stingy I am with the gifts that the Lord has given me, whether my time, my talents, my treasures, or my testimony. I treat these things as though I have earned them, not recognizing that they are gifts from God, given to me to give back to Him and to share with others. The Lord has blessed me that I might be a blessing to others.
How about you? Is gratitude your normal response to life? Are you living in a place of surrender to the Lord? Will you pray with me?
Heavenly Father, I pray that I would have a heart overflowing with gratitude for all that You have given me. Truly, what do I have that I haven’t been given? Where would I be today if You hadn’t led me by the hand every step of the way? Now, today, I offer back to You the first fruits of my labor. My children, my home, my work, my mind and mouth and money, are Yours. I give them back to You as an offering of praise. They are Yours. They were given to me by You, and now I again give them back to You, laying them down, prying my fingers off of them, leaving them on the altar of Your Holy presence. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 28, Deuteronomy 22-23
I’m prone to losing stuff. At least once a week, I can’t seem to find my keys, my purse, my sunglasses, or whatever. Usually the items are lost in my home, but sometimes I lose something when I’m out somewhere, most often my purse.
When I was younger (like, less than 40 ☺️), I forgot my purse in the grocery cart with remarkable regularity. I’d like to say I’m more careful than I once was, but I’m afraid that the real reason is that I rarely go shopping anymore, preferring the convenience of grocery pickup or delivery.
Well, anyway, it seems I’ve passed on my forgetful genes to my youngest son (and at least one of his siblings). For example, I remember one summer when said youngest son was playing basketball with a friend in our church parking lot. He took his wallet out of his pocket and carefully set it on the cement light pole for safe-keeping, fully intending to replace it in his pocket when the game was done.
You know how the story ends, don’t you? Several hours later, when he was getting ready to head to work, he discovered his wallet was missing, and, in fact, he couldn’t even remember where it was. Thankfully, after making some phone calls and driving around town a while, I recovered his wallet from the church parking lot without a hitch, and not even a dollar missing. 🎉🎉🎉
Which brings us to today’s passage, Deuteronomy 22:1-4,
“You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother’s, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.”
Deuteronomy 22:1-4 ESV
Join me in praying, “Heavenly Father, if I find someone’s lost wallet or purse or dog, please help me to go the extra mile to restore it to him, even if it’s inconvenient.”
And suddenly I remembered the parables that Jesus told as recorded in Luke 15, the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:8-10 ESV
Friends, as much as we should seek to restore our neighbor’s lost wallet, how much more should we seek to restore a lost soul. A lost human is of infinitely greater worth than a thousand lost sheep or a million lost wallets.
What is more valuable to you, your neighbor’s stuff or your neighbor’s soul?
Heavenly Father, You are my greatest treasure. You are worth more to me than all the money in the world. Help me to love my neighbor as myself. Help me to love my neighbor’s children as I love my own. Help me to be faithful to love what You love, to be about my Father’s business of seeking and saving the lost. Please forgive me, Lord, for not making the most of every opportunity because of my own selfishness. Lord, break my heart for what breaks Yours. I love You, Lord. Thank You for Your love for me, for chasing me down and running to me with open arms. In the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer I pray. Amen.
In the Valley (Bless the Lord) – City Alight, featuring Sandra McCracken
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 26, Deuteronomy 18-19
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’
And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.'”
Deuteronomy 18:15-19 ESV
These words spoken by Moses as recorded in Deuteronomy 18 have been fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. As Peter said to the people in Jerusalem after they were eyewitnesses to him healing a crippled man,
“Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk?
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.
But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.
To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.
And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.
Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’
Acts 3:12-23 ESV
Dear friends, for so long I, too, was ignorant. I didn’t know the Word, and I didn’t know that Jesus was God’s only Begotten Son, fully God and fully man, whom God the Father had sent to pay the price for man’s sins by His death on the cross. I didn’t know that I could be saved by trusting in Him, turning away from my sin and turning to Him. I didn’t know.
But now I do. I’m no longer ignorant.
And just like God has different punishments for an accidental killing versus an intentional, willful murder, God’s justice will be more severe toward those who have willfully rejected His offer of salvation.
If you have read even this one blog post, you can no longer claim ignorance when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Like Paul said to the religious men in the Areopagus in Athens, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31 ESV)
This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. Andthere is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Acts 4:11-12 ESV
Reject Him no longer. I pray that today will be the day of salvation for you and your household. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
Want more? Click here for an article on the topic of more severe punishment in hell for those who reject Christ.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for opening my eyes, for bringing me out of the darkness and into the light. Thank You for setting my feet on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, hiding me in the Rock that was cleft for me, passing over my sins because the blood of Jesus Christ has been applied to the door of my heart. This is all from You and for You. All praise and honor and thanks to You. I pray for those reading this today who are still wandering lost in the dark, who need their eyes to be opened. Please, Father, please. Show them Christ. In the Name of Jesus, my Savior and Redeemer and Lord. Amen.
Rock of Ages – Augustus Toplady – sung by Chris Rice
Show us Christ – Sovereign Grace Music
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 23; Deuteronomy 14-15
I grew up in a poor neighborhood on the east side of Des Moines, Iowa, walking distance from the state capitol building, but I was blessed to be accepted into the open enrollment program for the wealthy school on the other side of town. Surrounded by Guess jeans, Izod shirts, and BMWs, I felt poor in my sister’s hand-me-downs, white K-mart tennis shoes, and beat-up station wagon.
But, here’s the truth: I wasn’t poor. I had everything that I needed. In fact, I had much, much more than I needed.
Both of my parents worked hard to provide a comfortable, stable life for us, a life full of delicious homemade dinners together at home, as well as occasional fancy meals out. When I was little, and my parents couldn’t afford lavish vacations, they took us camping, loading up that old blue station wagon with two little girls, a dog, a tent, four sleeping bags, and plenty of food and fishing gear. As my parents made more money, they chose to spend it exposing us to the adventures of traveling to the Bahamas, the ancient Giant Redwoods of California, and the historic cities of the East Coast.
I’ve recently retired from being a homeschool-mom for twenty-three years. To make a little extra money, my family started a portable laser tag business on the weekends. After almost ten years in business, we sold it, and I started teaching English online in the early morning hours while my kids sleep. Sure, we could’ve given our kids more stuff and a fancier house if I had chosen to work full-time, but we decided that me being home to disciple my kids is immeasurably more valuable than expensive clothes, vacations, and all the various trappings of the world.
Americans today have a hard time grasping what it means to be poor. We think we’re poor if we can’t afford cable TV and Six Flags season passes. We think we’re poor if we can’t afford to vacation in Florida every summer or buy Starbucks every morning. We think we’re poor if we don’t have a closet full of name-brand clothes and sneakers. So, I admit it’s hard for me to know how exactly to help the “needy and poor” in my community, like I read in Deuteronomy 15:11.
For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV
When I originally wrote this post two years ago, I’d just gotten home from my local Aldi, trying to save a little money on my groceries. Walking in, I noticed an older man sitting outside by himself on a concrete bench in front of the store. A half-hour later I came out with a half-full grocery cart, hurrying home to make a salad to take to the dinner we were sharing that night at a friend’s house with some other couples from church. And there he was, still sitting alone on the bench.
I stopped next to him, asking if he was waiting for a ride – the only logical reason a person would sit on a bench in front of Aldi for a half hour in the hundred-degree Memphis heat. As it turns out, he wasn’t waiting for a ride. He was just sitting on the bench trying to escape the heat because it was in the shade.
I asked him if I could get him anything. He asked for a soda. I apologized, telling him that I hadn’t bought any soda. Next, I asked if I could get him some water, and he said he’d already gotten some water next door at the fast food restaurant. Finally, I apologized to him again and made my way back to my car where I unloaded my groceries into my trunk, got in the front seat of my car … and cried.
I couldn’t just leave that man there and go home to my air conditioning and fridge full of food.
So, I grabbed a five-dollar bill out of my glove box and went back into Aldi where I waited in line for five minutes to buy him an ice-cold bottle of Coke and a Snickers bar. What else could I do?
And I went back to that bench and sat down with that poor old man and asked him his name.
Truly, sisters, the love of Christ compels me. That man has a name. It’s John. And he’s been made in the image of God. God created John on purpose. I don’t know anything about John’s life or how he ended up sitting on a steaming hot, concrete bench in front of a grocery store trying to grab any forgotten quarters from the grocery carts’ locks. But I do know that if that was my son or my dad or my brother, I’d want someone to sit with him, to notice him, to ask if he needed anything. I’d want someone to talk to him and pray for him. I’d want someone to buy him a Coke and let him use their phone to make a phone call.
So, I laid my hand on John’s knee, prayed for him, and gave him one of the pocket-sized books of John from the Pocket Testament League that I always carry with me.
I wish I could say that I did more to help John, but I didn’t. It’s the struggle I face living in a finite, fallen world with limited time and dangerous men, but I sincerely hope that John will believe that God sees him and wants good for his life.
This past week, on Friday night, my husband, youngest son, and I got back home from Reynosa, Mexico, where we were blessed to serve with Rio Bravo Ministries. This was my husband’s fourth time and my third. All three of my older children have gone, too. My husband and oldest two children went for the first time in 2013. In fact, we got to see some of the very same children this week who they first met twelve years ago. Rio Bravo Ministries, founded in 1993, houses approximately sixty children in four children’s homes, runs a school for over 400 children, and serves the community of Reynosa in a myriad of other ways. It’s an oasis in the midst of a desert, and I was reminded again that God has blessed me that I might be a blessing, that apart from the grace and mercy of God, we are all dead in our sins, hopeless and drowning, poor and blind and lost in darkness, and we have been commanded to love our neighbor as ourselves. Would you please partner with them by giving your time or money and especially your prayers? Click here for more information.
By this we know love, that he [Jesus] laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
1 John 3:16-18 ESV
Heavenly Father, We pray that You will send us where You want us. Give us beautiful feet that bring good news to those in need. Give us open hands and open mouths that serve generously in both word and deed. Use us in the cities where we live and use us to glorify Your name to the ends of the earth, that heaven will be filled with people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. We lift Rio Bravo Ministries up to You. We pray for every man, woman, and child who walk through their gates. We pray for the house parents. We pray for the teachers and administrators. Give these servants Your strength, peace, and wisdom. We pray for the children to know how deep and wide and long and high is the love of Christ. Open their eyes to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and open their minds to know, trust, and love Your Word. We pray for their biological parents and for the city of Reynosa, Mexico. Bring revival to that city, Lord. Show them how great is Your saving grace. In the Name of Jesus Christ, who came to seek and save the lost, we pray. Amen.
The Love of God – Selah
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 10; Philippians 1
“To live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Philippians 1:21 ESV
To live is Christ. To die is gain.
The world shouts, “Pursue riches. Pursue fame. Pursue power and beauty and praise. Take it easy. Enjoy life. You do you. Do what makes you happy. YOLO.”
But the Lord cries, “Pursue what makes for peace and building others up. (Romans 14:19) Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. (1 Timothy 6:11) Work hard. Enjoy Me. Be conformed to My likeness. Do what makes Me happy. YOLO.”
Whose voice am I listening to?
Oh, Heavenly Father, I only live once. It has been appointed for me to one day die and to stand before Your throne. Teach me to number my days that I might have a heart of wisdom. Give me the humility I need to count others more significant than myself, to look out for the interests of others. Make my faith firm and unwavering, that I can utter these words with complete conviction, “To live is Christ. To die is gain.” In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, the One who is Worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. Amen.
See: Hebrews 9:27, Psalm 90:12, Revelation 5:12
My Worth is Not in What I Own (with Chinese subtitles) – Keith and Kristyn Getty
What does Paul mean by “To Live is Christ but to Die is Gain?” – Drive Thru History
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 9, Philippians 1
“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. 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. 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.”
Philippians 1:1-11 ESV
I love Paul’s humility as he opens this letter. “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ” — not “Paul, the one chosen by God to spread the gospel throughout the world, and Timothy my little brother,” nor “Paul, a servant of Christ, and Timothy, my disciple.”
Then, I noticed Paul’s subtle encouragement for humility on the part of his readers as well. Paul is writing this letter to all the saints in Philippi along with the overseers and deacons. He isn’t writing to the overseers and deacons and then telling them, “Hey, share this info with those other saints among you.”
When Paul says in verse 3, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,” expressing his gratitude that they have been partners in the gospel – in receiving the gospel and in sharing the gospel – he’s not just writing (or even primarily writing) to the elders, deacons, evangelists, and pastors. He’s writing to each and every believer in the body of Christ at Philippi. Each one of them are his partner because each of them (each of us) are partakers with Paul of God’s grace (verse 7). Paul wants each one of them to know how much he loves them, and how much he wants them to abound with more and more love, knowledge, and discernment.
My dear friends, my sisters, my fellow servants of Jesus Christ, I echo Paul’s words. I want you to know all this, too! Whether you’re a 95-year-old great grandmother who has been studying the Bible verse by verse since you were “knee high to a grasshopper,” or you are a brand new believer reading Philippians for the first time, I am thankful for your partnership in the gospel. I want you to know the Word better … so that you will know God better … so that you will love Him more and glorify Him better. I want you to have deeper knowledge of the Lord so that you may accurately discern what is excellent and what is evil, so that your heart and your life may be pure when you meet Jesus face-to-face and so that the watching world will see your good works and be drawn to give glory and praise to God.
I love how each of Paul’s words seem to pour into the next, like a stream rolling over a series of rocks until finally being deposited into the deep, wide, quiet lake of the glory and praise to God.
I want you to know how much I love you, how thankful I am for you, how often I pray for you,
that you would love God more,
that you would know Him more,
that you would be able to easily recognize what is good and what is not,
that you may be pure and blameless, full of righteous fruits … to the glory and praise of God.
That’s the end goal. The end goal isn’t about you, your happiness and holiness, your comfort and peace. The end goal is that God would be praise and glorified. And the irony in that is that your joy is ultimately found in bringing God glory. I am never happier than when I am in the fellowship of other believers, worshipping the Lord together in song and prayer and Bible study.
I wonder – Do you have any sisters and brothers who are your partners in the gospel? If so, have you told them how much they mean to you? If not, let me encourage you to find them … now. Find a local body of believers. Join a small group of women (or men) who pray for each other. Study the Bible with a few other sisters.
If you’re not familiar with Community Bible Study, check into them. They have groups all over the world. If you’re in the Memphis area, I invite you to join the Collierville, Tennessee group. We meet in person on Wednesday mornings or online on Thursday evenings.
Thank You, Heavenly Father, for each faithful partner in the gospel that You have put into my life. Some of them live just minutes away from me, while others live on the other side of the world. Thank You for each one of them, from the newest believer to the most seasoned saint. I pray that their love will abound more and more, with knowledge and discernment, that they 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 of praise of Your Name! In the Blessed and Holy Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
“Christus Victor (Amen)” – Keith & Kristyn Getty
Would you like to receive my daily blog posts sent directly to your email? Subscribe for free by entering your email below.
Teach What is Good 
You must be logged in to post a comment.