Today’s Verse – Jeremiah 10:7
Who should not revere you, O King of the nations? This is your due. Among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is no one like you. —Jeremiah 10:7 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Presidents, kings, prime ministers, and rulers have a host of “wise” and diplomatic counselors. Many also surround themselves with people of power and wealth who will tell them what they want to hear. There is, however, only one King of the Nations! Only One will genuinely and ultimately rule over all peoples of the earth. He is beyond compare and has no worthy rival. His name is YAHWEH, the great I AM, the LORD God Almighty, the one true and living God whom Jesus taught us to call our Abba Father. All creatures, great and small, will one day revere God and honor him as they should today. All peoples of every nation will one day bow down and worship God one day as they should today. So, let’s make sure that we, as disciples of Jesus, do it today! My Prayer… You are worthy of all glory and power, my God and Father. You have no rival — either in reality or in my heart. Why should you care for me when you have such power and majesty? I thank you for adopting me into your royal family by your grace. I praise you for the mercy and love that you have poured into my life. I want to respond with a life that declares that there is no one like you! In the name of Jesus, I praise you. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Antidote to Uncertainty: Thankfulness
Note from Jesus Dear Child of Grace, You have been blessed with grace because of the Father’s love (John 3:16-18; Colossians 1:12-14). That grace was embodied by My coming to earth in human flesh, My life of service, My atoning death on the Cross, and My victorious resurrection (Colossians 1:15-23) and continues to be yours through the Holy Spirit that has been given to you (Ephesians 1:13-14). You shared in this grace through your baptism because of your faith (Colossians 2:9-15). Your future in glory is secure in Me as I reign over all things (Colossians 3:1-4; Ephesians 1:18-22). So rejoice! Be thankful! Praise your Father in heaven for His bountiful grace that has brought you to a life full of love, hope, and peace in Me! The Colossian Christians had forgotten the importance of being thankful. So in his short letter to them, Paul began by giving thanks for them. He called on them repeatedly to be thankful. As important as prayer was to Paul, he reminded these Colossian brothers and sisters to always “be thankful when you pray.” In fact, Paul wanted all of their lives to be lived “sending thanks” in My name to the Father! So why is thankfulness so important? There are many reasons. Thankfulness reminds you that you receive all your blessings from the Father. Thankfulness reminds you of all that you have been given so you are not constantly greedy for more. For the Colossians, however, thankfulness had an added purpose. This purpose can also apply to you. False teachers slip into My people like wolves disguised as sheep. Their smooth sounding words and their claim to special knowledge can create an itch of concern in the hearts of My people who can become uncertain because they are concerned that they may have missed something important. They can be enticed by new teaching that sounds special and especially spiritual. On the other hand, thankfulness roots you in the things you have received from the Father through My death, burial, and resurrection. Thankfulness reminds you that life’s most important grace, My sacrifice for you, is sufficient to bring you to My glory. As Paul warned the Galatians, anything added to the simple gospel about Me is not gospel; it is false teaching and must be opposed (Galatians 1:6-9). Paul wanted the Christian brothers and sisters to follow this important exhortation about thankfulness: Let your roots grow down deeply in Him, and let Him build you up on a firm foundation. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always spill over with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:7) So, dear child of My Father, give thanks! Praise God for what you have received. Be filled to overflowing with thanksgiving because you have received grace and the assurance that life ahead of you will be glorious! Verses to Live The following verses are the thread of thankfulness that Paul wove into the tapestry of his letter to the Colossians. Read these verses several times. Pause after each section and ask the Holy Spirit to help you receive, incorporate, and display the principles you find in that section. Be blessed! Most of all, learn the grace of being thankful! As always, we’ve been praying for you, thanking God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed, ever since we heard of your faith in Jesus the Anointed and your love for His holy ones — faith and love that emerge from the hope you have heard about in the word of truth — the gospel — the very hope that awaits you in heaven. (Colossians 1:3-5) Since the day we got this good news about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We ask: Father, may they clearly know Your will and achieve the height and depth of spiritual wisdom and understanding. May their lives be a credit to You, Lord; and what’s more, may they continue to delight You by doing every good work and growing in the true knowledge that comes from being close to You. Strengthen them with Your infinite power, according to Your glorious might, so that they will have everything they need to hold on and endure hardship patiently and joyfully. Thank You, Father, as You have made us eligible to receive our portion of the inheritance given to all those set apart by the light. You have rescued us from dark powers and brought us safely into the kingdom of Your Son, Whom You love and in Whom we are redeemed and forgiven of our sins [through His blood]. (Colossians 1:9-14) Now that you have welcomed the Anointed One, Jesus the Lord, into your lives, continue to journey with Him and allow Him to shape your lives. Let your roots grow down deeply in Him, and let Him build you up on a firm foundation. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always spill over with thankfulness. (Colossians 2:6-7) Since you are all set apart by God, made holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a holy way of life: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Put up with one another. Forgive. Pardon any offenses against one another, as the Lord has pardoned you, because you should act in kind. But above all these, put on love! Love is the perfect tie to bind these together. Let your hearts fall under the rule of the Anointed’s peace (the peace you were called to as one body), and be thankful. Let the word of the Anointed One richly inhabit your lives. With all wisdom teach, counsel, and instruct one another. Sing the psalms, compose hymns and songs inspired by the Spirit, and keep on singing — sing to God from hearts full and spilling over with thankfulness. Surely, no matter what you are doing (speaking, writing, or working), do it all in the name of Jesus our Master, sending thanks through Him to God our Father. (Colossians 3:12-17) Pray, and keep praying. Be alert and
Today’s Verse – Proverbs 10:6
Blessings crown the head of the righteous, but violence overwhelms the mouth of the wicked. —Proverbs 10:6 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… In the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas betrayed Jesus and Temple soldiers arrested him. Peter drew a sword to defend the Lord and used it against the servant of the high priest (Matthew 26:47-51). Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword back in its place… for all who draw the sword will die by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). Violence begets violence, and rarely do violent people not have to taste the bitter repayment of violence on their own heads. God’s Wise Man essentially says the same thing in this verse but with one key addition. Blessings come to the righteous person. We reap what we sow, whether we sow righteousness or violence! My Prayer… Holy God, please bless me with righteousness — not just by your grace and mercy, but by your Holy Spirit’s transformation of my heart. And, dear Father, we close our prayer with the plea of King David: Bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure — you, the righteous God who probes minds and hearts (Psalm 7:9). We pray this in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
I AM Enough
Note from Jesus Dear Believer, When Paul wrote to the Colossians, he was imprisoned and facing hardship because of his work for the gospel (Colossians 1:24-29; Colossians 4:18). He was content even facing this suffering (Philippians 4:11), but he desperately wanted the early churches to remain committed to Me and to the pure message that they had heard. As a result, Paul’s suffering was made more trying by those who kept stirring up discontent and doubt because of their false teaching. Epaphras, who personally was from Colossae (Colossians 4:12), had originally taken My message to the Colossians (Colossians 1:7). Paul had never even visited there (Colossians 2:1). People’s respect for him as a great leader, teacher, disciple maker, and apostle gave him significant influence in the lives of many church leaders as well as other Christians. The Colossian Christians were part of this group that deeply respected Paul. He wrote the letter to them to combat false teachers who were saying that they had not received the full gospel because Epaphras had taught them. From the critics’ point of view, Epaphras was a “nobody” from Colossae and not an apostle or a well-known evangelist; the false teachers were saying that the Colossians had received inferior teaching. False teachers were trying to convince My new disciples in Colossae and nearby Laodicea (Colossians 2:1; Colossians 4:13-16) that they needed special new teachings shrouded in mystery. Paul used the phrase “the elemental spirits of the cosmos” to describe part of this erroneous teaching. These new false teachings also insisted on special ascetic practices of denying the body through extraordinary fasting and other more extreme practices (Colossians 2:16-23). These false teachers tried to convince My disciples in Colossae that they could arrive at the Father’s intended “fullness” only through these special practices. To combat these false teachings, Paul used a form of the word for “fullness” or “full” six times in the short letter to the Colossians — four of those times were to tell the Colossian Christians that all the fullness they needed is found in Me (Colossians 1:19; Colossians 2:2; Colossians 2:9; Colossians 2:10), one was to remind them that his message had all the necessary fullness (Colossians 1:25), and the other one related to Epaphras’ prayer for them (Colossians 4:12). Throughout his letter to the Colossians, Paul repeatedly spoke against the false teaching they were receiving. If he had given a succinct summary of his teaching, it could have been “Jesus plus anything is less than Jesus — it is no gospel at all” (Galatians 1:6-9). Paul centered his life, his mission, and his message in this truth. He declared this purpose to the Colossians: I am a servant appointed by God to preach the Word of God until it is known to you and all over — what I am talking about is nothing less than the mystery of the ages! What was hidden for ages, generations and generations, is now being revealed to His holy ones. He decided to make known to them His blessing to the nations; the glorious riches of this mystery is the indwelling of the Anointed in you! The very hope of glory. (Colossians 1:25-27) My imprisoned apostle Paul was adamant that the truth of the gospel is centered on My death, burial, and resurrection. He insisted that the Colossians needed not only to hang onto the original teaching they received, but that they also needed to root themselves in those truths: Now that you have welcomed the Anointed One, Jesus the Lord, into your lives, continue to journey with Him and allow Him to shape your lives. Let your roots grow down deeply in Him, and let Him build you up on a firm foundation. Be strong in the faith, just as you were taught, and always spill over with thankfulness. Paul told them that their lives were joined to My life in a realm far above any earthly power or any spiritual power other than My own and that their future was now caught up in My future glory: Your new life is now hidden, enmeshed with the Anointed Who is in God. On that day when the Anointed One — Who is our very life — is revealed, you will be revealed with Him in glory! I have “disarmed” all spiritual authorities, realms, entities, and powers (Colossians 2:15). Through the Colossians’ participation with My death in baptism and their faith in the power of God demonstrated by My resurrection, they had “died” to those powers (Colossians 2:12-20) and were “raised up with Me” and “enmeshed” with Me and will be fully revealed when I come in My glory. This same glorious reality is true for you as My disciple! Paul’s teaching must be your passion. The truth is centered in Me. Remember what I told My first disciples on the eve of My Crucifixion: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7 NIV) Verses to Live Paul’s words in these two passages from his letter to the Colossians reminded them that I AM the One in Whom are hidden all “the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” You don’t need something more. You don’t need secret wisdom tied to other spirits or powers. You need to root yourselves deeply into Me. In your baptism and because of your faith in Me, you joined My death on the cross and My victory and new life through My resurrection. Your future is secured to Me. No other powers or spirits can have you now because your life is “hidden, enmeshed” with Me, far above any rule, power, or authority. Root yourself in Me! This battle [with suffering and imprisonment] I am facing is huge. And I want you to know I do it for you, for all those
Today’s Verse – 2 Corinthians 10:5
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. —2 Corinthians 10:5 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… The apostle Paul knew he was in a war against spiritual forces opposed to God (Ephesians 6:10-12) and the false teachers under their influence. While these forces and influences may have a great deal of impact on the world at large, Paul determined he would do all he could, empowered by the Spirit, to keep Satan’s deceptions from ruling in God’s churches. He was committed to truth in an age obsessed with many different gods, beliefs, and choices. Can we be any less vigilant in our day? Can we be any less committed to the truth in our culture so obsessed with many of the same ideas Paul confronted? Of course not! We must demolish every argument “and pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God”! My Prayer… O, holy God, please forgive our lack of spiritual vigilance and cowardice in the marketplace of ideas. Stir us by your Spirit to speak the truth in love. Convict us of our need to confront detrimental and hostile ideas to faith, righteousness, and truth with sound and godly wisdom. We want to do this forcefully, clearly, and honorably. Stir our hearts as we seek to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”Arouse us to be your holy and committed people, we pray, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Grace, Glorious Grace
Note from Jesus Dear Child of Grace, Paul powerfully tells the truth about where each of you was before grace: You were the offspring of the prince of the power of air — oh, how he owned you, just as he still controls those living in disobedience. Many of the people to whom Paul was writing had been worshipping idols, “living in disobedience.” Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome that their prior spiritual failure was not just a problem of too little effort or ineffectual worship of the one true and living God. People had failed even in the proper religion of Israel. No one kept the law perfectly. All, even the most zealous for the law, failed to measure up to the righteous character and gracious compassion of the Father. Paul reminded these Roman disciples that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NIV). Everyone needs the Father’s grace! Today’s short passage on grace is one of Paul’s most powerful statements of reversal and redemption based on the Father’s great love: But God, with the unfathomable richness of His love and mercy focused on us, united us with the Anointed One and infused our lifeless souls with life — even though we were buried under mountains of sin — and saved us by His grace. You are a recipient of grace. Your Father in heaven treasures you. Your life is now united with My life. Your future is now salvation because of grace. You did not earn it. You did not deserve it. There is no room for bragging about your good deeds because they could not achieve this new life of salvation: For it’s by God’s grace that you have been saved. You receive it through faith. It was not our plan or our effort. It is God’s gift, pure and simple. Verses to Live Read and then re-read this passage. Let the wonder of grace sweep over you. Let the promise of salvation undergird you. Remind yourself of the Father’s great love. Remember My great sacrifice. Trust in the transforming power of the Spirit. Then let your praise to the Father flow out of your heart. You are saved by grace. You are alive in Me to accomplish the Father’s will. You are made new and empowered by the Holy Spirit. As for you, don’t you remember how you used to just exist? Corpses, dead in life, buried by transgressions, wandering the course of this perverse world. You were the offspring of the prince of the power of air — oh, how he owned you, just as he still controls those living in disobedience. I’m not talking about the outsiders alone; we were all guilty of falling headlong for the persuasive passions of this world; we all have had our fill of indulging the flesh and mind, obeying impulses to follow perverse thoughts motivated by dark powers. As a result, our natural inclinations led us to be children of wrath, just like the rest of humankind. But God, with the unfathomable richness of His love and mercy focused on us, united us with the Anointed One and infused our lifeless souls with life — even though we were buried under mountains of sin — and saved us by His grace. He raised us up with Him and seated us in the heavenly realms with our beloved Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King. He did this for a reason: so that for all eternity we will stand as a living testimony to the incredible riches of His grace and kindness that He freely gives to us by uniting us with Jesus the Anointed. For it’s by God’s grace that you have been saved. You receive it through faith. It was not our plan or our effort. It is God’s gift, pure and simple. You didn’t earn it, not one of us did, so don’t go around bragging that you must have done something amazing. For we are the product of His hand, heaven’s poetry etched on lives, created in the Anointed, Jesus, to accomplish the good works God arranged long ago. (Ephesians 2:1-10) Response in Prayer O Father, thank You for Your glorious and amazing grace. Thank You, Jesus, for paying the price to give me this grace. I thank You for this new life of purpose and meaning. I praise You for the power of the Holy Spirit to make me new and empower me to a lifestyle like Yours. I long for my future of eternal glory with You. I praise and thank You. Amen. ‘A Year with Jesus’ is written by Phil Ware. © 1998-2024, Heartlight, Inc. ‘A Year with Jesus‘ is part of the Heartlight Network.All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Voice™. © 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today’s Verse – Romans 10:4
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. —Romans 10:4 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Christ is the fulfillment of the Law (the goal and destination of the Mosaical Law) and the end of law as the means by which we are declared righteous. We are no longer judged on the basis of our law-keeping. True, the standard used for us is the righteousness of God, but this is a standard that Jesus meets in us and for us by being the sin offering for us and sending the Spirit to empower us to be transformed. Jesus’ saving work and our faith in him mean that God can declare us righteous while still transforming us as we strive to be more righteous in how we live. The Law’s goal is fulfilled and finds its completion in Jesus as his saving work redeems us, and the Holy Spirit transforms us to be like our LORD (2 Corinthians 3:18). Video Commentary… ToGather Worship Guide | More ToGather Videos My Prayer… Dear Father, I do believe that Jesus is your dear Son, sent to be my Savior, crucified for my sins, and raised from the dead for my victory. I trust my salvation to him and thank you for your incredible gift of grace. In the name of Jesus Christ, my LORD. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Passion and Truth in Praise
Note from Jesus Dear Beloved, Today you will read two powerful passages of praise. The first one is from Paul’s letter to the Colossians. The second is from Paul’s letter sent to several churches in Asia, with Ephesus being the most influential city. The first passage is a wonderful summary of My pre-existence, My work in creating the universe, My work at sustaining the universe, and My triumph over the cross and death. My mission was not only to reconcile you back to the Father, but also to reconcile all of creation back to the Father. The burst of praise in this first passage, this song of glory dedicated to Me, ends with an exhortation for you to hold onto these truths about Me. I AM with the Father and the angels of heaven, and I announce you to the Father as His beloved child who is “holy, blameless, and totally free of imperfection.” Paul reminds you that as you praise Me and remain faithful to your praise of Me, I present you to the Father as His perfect child. So I want you to read this first passage aloud. Do it at least three times. Read it one time to honor Me — to concentrate on Who I AM and what I’ve done for you. The second time, read it to remind yourself that these truths are important, that they allowed Me to be the sacrifice that not only atones for your sins but also makes you God’s perfect child. The third time, read the passage aloud to remind yourself to hold onto this confession of both Who I AM and who you are because of Me. Don’t ever denigrate who you are, because I AM the One Who has made you holy at an extremely high cost: My crucifixion! The second passage was written to the Colossians. They needed these truths because they were being lured away by false teachers who told them they lacked things needed to be truly holy. People will do the same in your day to get you to follow their special “enlightened” teachings on how to be really holy. Remember, your holiness comes from Me and from being joined to Me — examine Colossians 3:1-17, for example, to see what that ultimately means! The second passage is a burst of praise that has a kind of chorus near or at the end of each of the three major points of the message. (These choruses are highlighted with bold text below.) Paul again mixes praise for the Father and Me with a description of who you have been made to be by the Father’s plan, My sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit’s power at work in you. Paul emphasizes that this work of grace, your adoption into Our holy family, came about through Me, by Me, and in Me. Translators over the centuries have rightly said that this is one long burst of praise that comes from the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of Paul’s heart. The words flow out into a stream of thoughts that cannot be punctuated easily. Paul’s words are the language of the heart, the language of praise, and they are more poem than prose and more song than speech. Verses to Live Sometimes truth is most powerfully communicated in poetry and song. These two great passages of praise do just that. I want you to let them fill you with a sense of glory at Our — Father, Son, and Spirit’s — identity and then realize that I poured out Our love for you in your world in tangible ways so that you can share the glory of Our world! He [Jesus] is the exact image of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation, the eternal. It was by Him that everything was created: the heavens, the earth, all things within and upon them, all things seen and unseen, thrones and dominions, spiritual powers and authorities. Every detail was crafted through His design, by His own hands, and for His purposes. He has always been! It is His hand that holds everything together. He is the head of this body, the church. He is the beginning, the first of those to be reborn from the dead, so that in every aspect, at every view, in everything — He is first. God was pleased that all His fullness should forever dwell in the Son Who, as predetermined by God, bled peace into the world by His death on the cross as God’s means of reconciling to Himself the whole creation — all things in heaven and all things on earth. You were once at odds with God, wicked in your ways and evil in your minds; but now He has reconciled you in His body — in His flesh through His death — so that He can present you to God holy, blameless, and totally free of imperfection as long as you stay planted in the faith. So don’t venture away from what you have heard and taken to heart: the living hope of the good news that has been announced to all creation under heaven and has captured me, Paul, as its servant. (Colossians 1:15-23) Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Anointed One, Who grants us every spiritual blessing in these heavenly realms where we live in the Anointed — not because of anything we have done, but because of what He has done for us. God chose us to be in a relationship with Him even before He laid out plans for this world; He wanted us to live holy lives characterized by love, free from sin, and blameless before Him. He destined us to be adopted as His children through the covenant Jesus the Anointed inaugurated in His sacrificial life. This was His pleasure and His will for us. Ultimately God is the one worthy of praise for showing us His grace; He is merciful and marvelous, freely giving us these gifts in His Beloved.
Today’s Verse – Leviticus 10:3
Moses then said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke of when he said: “‘Among those who approach me I will show myself holy; in the sight of all the people I will be honored.’” Aaron remained silent. —Leviticus 10:3 Thoughts on Today’s Verse… Moses spoke these words after Nadab and Abihu dishonored God by their disobedience in the LORD’s holy presence. Aaron was silent because God struck Nadab and Abihu dead. They had dishonored God’s holiness, and God’s holiness is unapproachable without the gift of his grace to enter into his presence. When we disregard God’s holiness and do things the way we think is best, we profane what is precious and sacred. God will be known and shown as holy, if not by his people, then by God’s remedial actions. Let’s take our worship of God seriously, honoring him with our reverence and awe (Hebrews 12:28-29). Let’s also refuse to confine our worship to only what we do in a church building or around other believers. Let’s realize that all of our life is worship (Romans 12:1-2) and live out our lives with a commitment to be holy in all we do (1 Peter 1:15-16), both in the worship with our lips and the worship with our lives (Hebrews 13:1-16). My Prayer… Almighty and Most High God, who alone is holy in perfect righteousness, please forgive me for my sins. Cleanse me and make me holy by your Holy Spirit’s transforming and sanctifying power. May my life be lived as a holy sacrifice to you — pleasing and acceptable and full of joy for all you have done for me. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
My Mindset
Note from Jesus Dear Servant of God, Families, churches, groups, and communities are all systems of people. These systems are built upon flawed people and broken people. No matter how well-intentioned many people may be, each of us is flawed. The flaws of all, the pettiness of some, and the sinful behaviors of a few wound other people and damage the system as a whole. You live with two realities: you live in a fallen world, and it is full of imperfect people. These two truths make life in a family, church, group, or community very challenging. The new Christians in Philippi were having difficulty with each other’s imperfections. Two leading women in the Philippian church, Euodia and Syntyche, were at the center of some of the problems. These two women had worked beside Paul in leading people in Philippi to believe in Me and become My disciples (Philippians 4:2-3). Their disagreement had a very negative influence on the whole church. It had led many to forget an essential truth about living as My disciples: My disciples must follow My example as a servant to others. Paul had to write and ask for help in getting Euodia and Syntyche “to be of the same mind in the Lord“ (Philippians 4:2 NIV). Paul used the phrases “same mind” or “one mind” or similar expressions in various translations throughout the letter (Philippians 1:27; Philippians 2:2-5; Philippians 3:15) to mean they needed to “have the mind of Christ.” The problems these ladies had with each other were affecting the whole church! Paul knew that the brothers and sisters in Philippi needed to understand what it meant to have “the mind of Christ.” The first five verses below (Philippians 2:1-5) give Paul’s introductory exhortation. He urged the Philippian believers to “come together as one in mind and spirit and purpose, sharing in the same love.” Then he reminded them of a hymn they sang about Me. This hymn reminded them of what “one in mind and spirit and purpose, sharing in the same love” actually looks like in real life (Philippians 2:6-11). The hymn is beautiful. Paul’s exhortation was powerful. However, Paul didn’t stop with these reminders. He went on to give the Philippian disciples some examples of people who emulated My selfless lifestyle. He first mentioned Timothy: There is no one like Timothy. What sets him apart from others is his deep concern for you and your spiritual journey. This is rare, my friends, for most people only care about themselves, not about what is dear to the heart of Jesus the Anointed. (Philippians 2:20-21) Then Paul mentioned their own fellow Philippian, Epaphroditus, who nearly died trying to serve Paul on behalf of the Philippians (Philippians 2:27-30): I think it is best to send Epaphroditus home to you. He has become my dear brother in the Lord. We have worked well together and fought great battles together, and he was an encouraging minister to me in my time of need. (Philippians 2:25) Paul next reminded the Philippians of his own example. He focused forward. He did not rely on his past accomplishments. He realized he hadn’t arrived at full maturity and being like Me. He pressed on to become who he wanted to be in Me (Philippians 3:7-14). Then Paul added — and this is a very significant point — all who are mature share this point of view (Philippians 3:15). He closed with this exhortation about following the example of servants: Imitate me, brothers and sisters, and look around to those already following the example we have set. (Philippians 3:17) The bottom line, dear servant of God, is to be who I have called you to be: My disciple. A disciple when fully trained will be like his master (Luke 6:40). If I am your Master, then you will learn to serve and realize that serving is more important than being recognized as important or being proved right. Paul had to use exhortation, teaching, a song, and several examples to try to help the Philippians see this truth. I hope his efforts long ago make an impact on your heart today! Verses to Live As you read this exhortation and song, please remember that I, your Lord and Master, set you an example to do as I have done. Follow in My steps and be a servant. If you find any comfort from being in the Anointed, if His love brings you some encouragement, if you experience true companionship with the Spirit, if His tenderness and mercy fill your heart; then, brothers and sisters, here is one thing that would complete my joy — come together as one in mind and spirit and purpose, sharing in the same love. Don’t let selfishness and prideful agendas take over. Embrace true humility, and lift your heads to extend love to others. Get beyond yourselves and protecting your own interests; be sincere, and secure your neighbors’ interests first. In other words, adopt the mind-set of Jesus the Anointed. Live with His attitude in your hearts. Remember: Though He was in the form of God, He chose not to cling to equality with God; But He poured Himself out to fill a vessel brand new; a servant in form and a man indeed. The very likeness of humanity, He humbled Himself, obedient to death — a merciless death on the cross! So God raised Him up to the highest place and gave Him the name above all. So when His name is called, every knee will bow, in heaven, on earth, and below. And every tongue will confess “Jesus, the Anointed One, is Lord,” to the glory of God our Father! (Philippians 2:1-11) Response in Prayer Father, forgive me. Sometimes my need for approval and my desire to feel important make me jealous of those who get attention. Because of these weaknesses, I allow myself to become hurt and sulk about my own apparent lack of importance. Sometimes I just don’t want to submit myself