JULY 20

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES:

NAMES FOR GOD:

ELOHEI MA’UZZI—-GOD OF MY STRENGTH

ELOHIM MACHASE LANU—GOD OUR REFUGE

ELI MAELEKHI—GOD MY KING

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This month we will read the book, “Whatever Happens – How to Stand Firm in Your Faith When the World is Falling Apart.”  By a contemporary author of many best-selling Christian books, Robert J. Morgan.  He took care of his wife when she had MS, until she went home to her Savior.  “He knows of which he speaks.”  I pray that this book blesses you.

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Philippians 2:1-5

“Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

WHATEVER HAPPENS…..MAKE TODAY ABOUT OTHER

Problems in the royal family – it’s what keeps the tabloids going.

The King of kings has a family on earth too, and He doesn’t want us to be in tumult with one another.  He wants us to get along, to love one another and to operate with a sense of unity, humility and love.  But that’s a challenge for us.  As a pastor for decades, I’ve learned a lot about unity and disunity in a church or home.  It’s been a challenge from the very beginning – from New Testament days.  How do we maintain sweet unity among Christians?

The apostle Paul addressed this throughout the book of Philippians, and especially as he began the second chapter of his letter (above)

TRINITY

The first word of chapter 2, “therefore,” links this paragraph to the preceding one where Paul said, “whatever happens, conduct yourself in like manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.  Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit.” (Philippians 1:27).

Moving on, Paul told the Philippians to expect trouble in this world, but to stand firm and united.  Since they had the spiritual resources that come from the Trinity – the encouragement of Jesus, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit – they could draw on them for success.

Dr. Gordon Fee, in his commentary on the book of Philippians, suggests that Paul was using the same trinitarian formula he used in 2 Corinthians 13:14: 
“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”

Since we have the grace, union, and encouragement of Jesus Christ, since we have the bottomless ocean of God’s love,  and since we have the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, then we should be able to have good relationships.  These invisible, innermost resources from heaven ought to energize us.

When my dad was born in the Tennessee mountains in 1911, there was no electricity.  It wasn’t until the ‘30’s and ‘40’s that electricity came to parts of East Tennessee.  I wish I had asked my dad about the first time he experienced a light switch.  I read about one man who was so excited he scurried from room to room in his house turning the lights on and off.  He was crying one minute and laughing the next.  He looked at his wife, who was crying, and said, “Ain’t it wonderful.”

One woman told me she and her siblings slept together in the sheer darkness of the attic.  Their father would lead them up the steps with the coal-oil lamp, see that they were safely tucked in, and there they would stay in blackness until the sun rose.  When electricity came, their father no longer led them up the steps and they were no longer in darkness.  She missed the nostalgia of those days but didn’t want to go back to them.

That’s how it is when we discover the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy spirit.  Suddenly we have light.  We have power.  We have warmth.  We’re connected to the divine transformers of the Trinity – and that makes an irreversible change in our lives.  We can hear music from far away.  We can view the world with new insight.  We are electrified by heaven.

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