pickledilly

The Lord must first be my God. Not just that He is God, but my God. I must be partnered with my God in a personal relationship where I belong to Him and He belongs to me. I must be willing to sacrifice joyfully in the way that pleases Him, not in a counterfeit way of my own design to please myself. His riches in glory provided through Christ Jesus define the fulfillment of His promise to supply every need. Which means, of course, that it is unlimited in any way on His end! The only real limits would be those created by me if I am not in Christ. In terms of daily living, I think the supply of my needs is limited by my lack of trust in His promise to provide for me. This incredible promise means to me that because the Almighty God of all creation is my God, He will provide for every need I face out of His abundance and full possession of all things. Christ, who gloriously made my relationship with God possible, is the channel through which these provisions come. It's not about me and what I have or can do. It's all about Him, and He is All in all. That makes my heart REJOICE!! Thank you, Pastor Ralph, for this wonderful study in Philippians. It has been a blessing in every way!

When the Philippians financed the practical needs and ministry of Paul

I think Paul

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Controlling the mind is seriously one of the greatest keys to joyful, victorious Christian life. Our thoughts are vulnerable to the enormous influences of Satan, and any mind that is not disciplined and guarded by the Spirit is going to be the devil

When I confess my needs and desires to God, I

When I present a prayer of request covered with thanksgiving, I am appreciating God as the good and loving One who has all authority and power to answer according to His will and what will bring Him glory. He receives that prayer with the desire to act on it, just like I would as a parent with my child. The opposite of faith is fear. Faith encourages me and gives me hope; fear does not. Faith honors God; fear does not. Faith moves God to act; fear does not. A thankful attitude builds my faith as I am reminded of how faith-worthy He has been in the past and of His promises for my future. It calms my fears as I remember that He is always near and always at work for good. I like the statement in this lesson that thanksgiving is the language of faith. I want to speak the language the Lord will hear!

Rejoicing in the Lord can be either a feeling or an action, or combination. Sometimes you feel so full of joy in Him that you think you might burst! But many times that feeling isn

A disciple will develop loyalties for whatever s/he is studying and following after. If we pursue things of the world, we will be devoted to them. If we follow after things of heaven, we will develop committed allegiance to them. Things of the world are going to lead us away from the things of heaven, so it should be no surprise that a worldly-minded person is going to display the dreadful characteristics described in these verses. We really have to constantly remind ourselves that we're heavenly citizens just journeying through this life on earth toward something greater. Jesus leads the way, and so we must follow after Him in our thinking and behavior. That will keep our minds on heavenly things and our allegiance in the right place. Just travellin' through!! In the church, if we confuse the concepts of patriotism and heavenly citizenship, we create divided allegiances. We should never come to a point where we worship a country or patriotism, but we should be pointing people to the truth that the Lord brought our nation into existence for His glory and He alone is our source of blessing and protection. We should be reminding everyone that God deserves our gratitude for His favor on this country, not ungrateful contempt. America began with an allegiance to Him, but our allegiance is now deeply divided because we tolerate and accept so much worldliness. As Americans, we should be falling on our faces before Him in repentance of our rebellion and in confession of our desperate need for Him. The Body of Christ should be leading the way. Our true citizenship is in heaven, but according to a principle in Jer.29:7, we have the responsibility to seek the welfare of whatever place the Lord has put us in while here on earth. "[Thus says the Lord of hosts...] But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." I am admittedly going off on a

Paul boldly encouraged others to imitate him because he was completely sold out to Christ Jesus in every way. He was aware of his own faults and unafraid to honestly say so. He submitted every part of himself to Christ and modeled the thoughts and ways of the Savior. He lived out the upward call of God in Christ Jesus and left a reliable example worth following. Whether I like it or not, I'm an example. How I conduct my daily living is constantly saying something about my relationship to God. This is a tremendous responsibility in representing Him to family, friends, the young women I teach in my Sunday School class. Like most everyone else, I hesitate to encourage people to imitate me because I know how far I fall short of the call of God, how much I hold back from Him, how unyielded my thoughts and ways are, and my pride doesn't want to let all that be exposed. But then, that sounds a bit like some of Paul

The concept of these questions has actually overwhelmed me as I

Failures of the past can make us feel defeated and worthless. Successes of the past can make us feel self-important and prideful. Over the years, I

In considering my answer to these questions, the cry of Mark 9:24 came to mind

Righteousness through obeying the law is dependant on self and how well you obey. The problem for humanity is that when you disobey even one single thing in the law by thought or deed, you have violated the whole law and you

Paul saw that all his past religious

It seems the Philippians church lacked a joy-filled, unified, humble servant attitude. They had great love and respect for Paul, and were faithful in partnership with him. But the relationship within the congregation was evidently very immature and self-centered. They weren

After posting my answers today and going back to read the responses of others, I see I'm coming at this with a different interpretation than some of what is meant by "preference". Isn't it neat how the Spirit can show each of us something a little different?! If I

Over the years, the Lord has sent different people at different times. I will always be grateful for advice many years ago from an older woman in my church who was a fellow pianist and helped me grow in my earliest years of church service. Another woman who taught a Bible study that I attended for over decade made a huge impact on my desire for the mind of Christ and helped me discover a love for teaching the Word myself. A couple of particularly close Christian friends have helped encourage me through the many stages of marriage and parenting. Right now, I teach a Sunday School class of young single

Too many people in leadership have wrong motives and are just not advancing in spiritual maturity. It

I read that the drink offering was usually wine poured out over an animal sacrifice. It wasn

If to

Complaining and arguing reveal pride, selfishness, and lack of discernment and trust in God - things Paul has been addressing since the beginning of this letter to the Philippians. The whole world is already in that darkened state. A person who shines with loving humility, joyful self-lessness, and peaceful unwavering faith in the Lord is going to make an impression. To see an entire group of people treat each other that way, especially in conflict, would definitely be noticed like the light of a star breaking through the darkness of night. Jesus is called the Light of the world. As believers, the very light of His own Spirit is within us. A light is meant to shine bright and dispel darkness. That means WE are meant to shine. Do we glow with the light of holiness? Do we twinkle with joyful hope in the face of conflict? Do we illuminate the better Way to live by love? Do we dispel the darkness of sin by humbly but firmly standing for the Truth? Do we burn brightly with energized, focused, brilliant Life? A church infested with complaining, arguing, murmuring, and bickering is going to look like most any other group in the world. It is going to be impotent in its influence for God. And anything that keeps gnawing on itself will eventually consume itself. I saw that in my former church. We must be different. It all comes down to the maturing process of sanctification in every single individual believer. I must be different. I must realize it

I

For most of us, I don