My, Devotion to Him #181
Verse Passage: Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” – NIV
We can rejoice because of who God is in our life. We can rejoice because of salvation, because of His love, because of His provisions, because of His healing. There is many things we can rejoice about. We treasure God because of the love that He shows towards us. And we should want our attitudes and actions to reflect that. However, there is a question remaining. What does it look like when Jesus is at the very core of who we are? I mean we want Him in our life. We want Him to be Lord. But the word Christian is to be Christ-like and He would have to go to the core of who we are as people and reign there in order for us to become alike.
The apostle Paul helps us in this quest for the answer to this question in today’s passage. This verse is from his letter to a church that he started in the city of Philippi, which is now located in present day Greece.
Verse Passage: Philippians 4:5-9 “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” – NIV
This passage is very powerful because within it we read about a few things.
- People need to see gentleness from us.
2. The Lord is close by you.
3. We need not worry about things.
4. In all things we need to bring to God and request from Him as He is the provider.
5. We need to have a thankful heart towards God.
6. What we learn from the Word we need to put it into action.
7. God’s peace is with you.
That is a lot of things within this passage that helps us. As Jesus is at the core of us these are things that we should take in. We should be gentle in what we do. We should know that the Lord is close to us. Jesus didn’t worry about things because He knew His Father would take care of Him as we should. When we need something we need to go to God and request it. He is the supply for our life and we need to start acting like it. We need to be more thankful. We need to be careful not to get into an expectation of providence because we are His children. But instead be thankful for all that He has, is and will continue to do for you. Many have sat and sat under the Word and yet have not put anything into action. Jesus put the Word of God unto action as we should. Jesus had peace. Jesus said all who come may have peace. As He is the core of us or should be. We need to step into peace as He is the provider of it.
As Jesus becomes the core of us we need to realize that these things are not something we are forced to do. These are things we should want to do as we are Christ-like. Some might think or say “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” which some might agree or disagree but it does not apply in this situation. Because once saved we are NEW CREATIONS. The old us is gone and the NEW US is here. We need to understand that as a follower of Christ we should want to do what He did. We should desire what He desired. Him becoming our core is giving Him control, becoming Him, and wanting it that way.
God bless.
Copyright © 2019 by Jacob D. Olinger
Spirit Warrior Ministry 