Category: In Christ We Are…

Philippians 2:12-13 NIV –
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Theologian Gordon Fee wrote the following about these verses:
“Thus with this theological affirmation in the thanksgiving, that God has begun and will complete his ‘good work’ of salvation among them, Paul anticipates the appeal in 2:12–13: that they ‘work out their salvation,’ meaning to live out in Christian community the salvation that Christ has effected, precisely because ‘God is at work in you, both to will and do what pleases him.’”

“Change happens by living out among the people of God.” (Pastor Mark)

I remember a critical time when I experienced this in college where I was struggling with a sense of condemnation towards myself and feeling like a failure.  An older sister in the church recognized I was struggling and asked if I was okay.  As I shared my struggles, she counseled me back to the truth of God’s forgiveness through Jesus and the new life and enabling I have in the Spirit.  After she prayed with me, I could sense the Spirit’s healing and renewing.  Since then, there have been countless moments of experiencing being changed with God’s people.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your church and how we experience being changed together as your people.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to the song “By the Grace of God” by Bethel Music (click here).

– EK

Author and pastor Paul David Tripp shares this testimony from his book, New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional:

“Here was my functional theology of my life as a child of God: I knew that by grace I had been granted God’s forgiveness and I knew that I had been graced with an all-inclusive pass into eternity, but I thought that between now and then, my job was to just gut it out…I tried it and found it didn’t work…I became more and more frustrated and discouraged…I can remember the moment in college when it all came to a head. It was six o’clock in the morning, as I was having the devotions that I really didn’t want to have, when I finally put my head down on my desk and cried, ‘I can’t do what you’re asking me to do!’ Then I read the next chapter in my daily Bible reading, and by God’s grace it was Romans 8…God knew that my need as a sinner was so great that it was not enough for him to just forgive me; he had to come and live inside me or I would not be what I had been re-created to be or do what I had been reborn to do.”

Let’s proclaim aloud Romans 8:13 NIV –
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

Prayer: Thank you, God, by your Spirit, I can live in the new for your purpose and for your glory.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to “By the Grace of God” by Bethel Music & Brian Johnson (click here).

– EK

Let’s proclaim aloud Romans 8:28 NIV at least twice:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

“(Romans 8:28) is one of the most famous memory verses of Scripture…. Paul wants us to realize that we are not alone, nor are our groanings isolated and for naught. Behind and much deeper than our own cries to God for help is the Holy Spirit, who is not only groaning more deeply than us on our behalf but also is doing so knowing the will of God. (So,) we can be absolutely certain that ‘in all things God works for the good of those who love him….’
(The verse) shows the results of the Spirit’s prayer for believers who are passing through the dark tunnel of despair over their overwhelming troubles. We do not know how to pray, and if we relied only on our own prayers we would never have peace. God hears our prayers as they are deepened by the accompanying intercessory work of the Spirit, and so he acts. And as a result of that divine action, the situation turns out for the best.
We must take ‘all things’ seriously. While encompassing our present struggles, it includes even our sins and mistakes. God intervenes and turns them around as well. Certainly if we sin we will have to suffer in ways we would not have had to if we had taken the right path, but God turns even this situation around and corrects our errors…. It is God who turns everything around, and not fate or chance.
This incredible promise is given to ‘those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose….’ God’s will results from his love for us linked to his plan for us. The divine plan guarantees that all will work out for our good.” (Grant Osborne in Verse by Verse)

Prayer: Dear Lord, I believe that you are working all things for the good and for your purpose in my life.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Let’s worship to the song “Your Love Never Fails” by Jesus Culture (click here).

– EK

Evangelist Billy Graham shared a wonderful testimony of how he came to believe in God’s word in his book, Hope for Each Day: Morning and Evening Devotions:

“Early in my life I had some doubts about whether or not the Bible was really God’s Word. But one night in 1949, I knelt before a stump in the woods of Forest Home, California, opened my Bible, and said, ‘O God, there are many things in this Book I do not understand. But by faith I accept it—from Genesis to Revelation—as Your Word.’ By God’s grace that settled the issue for me once and for all. From that moment on, I have never had a single doubt that the Bible is God’s Word…This confidence in God’s Word not only gives authority to one’s ministry; it provides a solid foundation for one’s life. We who trust in God’s Word aren’t living according to what someone says about the Bible or some human philosophy. We are basing our faith, our ministry, even our life itself on God’s unchanging truth as it is presented in His unchanging Word.”

Matthew 8:8 NIV –
The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, by your grace, may I simply agree and believe in what you say – that “I am blessed, called, healed and whole” in you.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s continue in worship with “God, You’re So Good” by Passion (click here).

– EK

“God had a plan for Edward Mote. As a young apprentice cabinetmaker, Mote’s life took a pivotal turn when his master brought him to the Tottenham Court Road Chapel. There…Mote encountered Jesus Christ and embraced Him as his Savior…Mote continued to work diligently as a cabinetmaker…However, his heart was now filled with a deep love for hymns and a desire to express his gratitude to God through music. One fateful morning in 1834, as Mote walked to his workshop in Holborn, London, the words of a chorus came to his mind: ‘On Christ the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.’ By the end of the day, he had penned four verses of what would become one of the most beloved hymns of all time…The following Sunday, Mote visited a friend whose wife lay ill. As they gathered to sing a hymn and pray together…he pulled out the verses he had written just days before. The words brought comfort and solace to the ailing woman.” (“The Story Behind: The Solid Rock,” see the hymncharts website)

No matter what we may walk through, we have an unshakable hope or “positivity” that is founded on Jesus, who is our solid rock.

Let’s proclaim and pray Psalm 18:1-2 NIV –
I love you, LORD, my strength.
 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s praise the Lord, our solid rock, as we sing “Cornerstone” by Hillsong (click here).

– EK