When you do these things, God makes you a promise. At first glance it seems as if God’s promise is that He will give you His peace. That in itself would be a great promise, but it’s actually better than that – the focus of the promise is God Himself. Yes, God will give you peace, but He will be with you as you put these things into practice.
We are instructed to be anxious for nothing. Or another way of phrasing this according to the text is to not be troubled with cares. When we are born into God’s kingdom, we have the assurance that God cares for our needs and God has a plan for us. The Bible says that God fashioned the days for me before I was born. When we surrender to Christ, that surrender includes giving God the controls of our lives and letting Him lead us into the life He has fashioned for us. The only way to be free from our anxieties is to rest confidently in His plan and submit to His will.
Gentleness helps us relate to others and make allowance for others’ faults, just as we would like them to show us some patience and grace as we ourselves grow in the Lord. We are all on this journey together.
When we labor for the Master, it is always worth it. Today, as we honor all of the mother figures around us, I want us to remember their sacrifice. A faithful mothering figure lives a sacrificial life of service. She gives up her body, her physical space, her time, her mental capacity. Sometimes she has to sacrifice her dreams or plans she once had for her life. To be one of these extraordinary women almost always costs something. It is definitely not free. Motherhood takes and takes. But the joy and purpose that a mother finds in her child or those in her care will always make every sacrifice worthwhile. Any way that a woman of service blesses others is worth celebrating today.
Keep looking forward to the Kingdom of Heaven. As you go through the everyday of life, even when faced with tough decisions or struggles in life, we need to think about our eternal destiny and how much more the promises of God reach beyond this world. Remember that whatever we do here on Earth affects us for all of eternity.
Scripture – Phil. 3:1-16
In light of what Paul says here and considering the fact that we want to acknowledge the importance of Solidarity and Solidarity Sunday, I believe it is essential for us as the church understand how to properly lead with God’s love and reflect His kingdom here on earth, as those examples must be considered as the hallmarks of solidarity and unity, when speaking about the Church.
The good news of Easter is that Jesus Christ not only died for your sins and offers you forgiveness today, but that same power that raised Him from the dead two thousand years ago is available to change your life right now.
What Is Resurrection Power?
It’s the Power to Cancel Out Your Past, Present, and Future Sins.
If you are here today wondering what this journey of Holy Week means for you, don’t miss God’s invitation. He loves each one of us and invites us on the journey through Holy Week and into relationship with Him. It may be an unexpected journey—it probably will be a surprising journey. But what was once impossible because we were separated from God by sin and death is now possible when we come alive to the life of Jesus.
Friends, isn’t it inspiring and convicting that we too could use our gifts like Timothy and Epaphroditus, sacrificially and humbly? That is precisely what Paul wants us to do. He wants us to honour God by boldly and courageously risking our, time, energy and maybe even our lives in order to serve the needs of others.
All too often we decide to take on other people’s character traits, believing we must fit into a certain mold to be accepted. Yet, try as hard as we might, we were uniquely designed for greatness because truthfully, like the makeup of the snowfall we see, it is impossible for two (or more) snowflakes to be completely alike. So, it begs the questions, why do we still place such high expectations on ourselves by emulating others instead of embracing our individual strengths?
Have you ever thought of humility as lowliness of mind?? You see, true humility is not a weakened state as the world today would have us believe. No, humility is not thinking less of yourself; its thinking of yourself less.
When we remain concentrated on sharing the good news of the Gospel without concerning ourselves about superficial matters, our mission to bring God’s love to the world around us can be accomplished much more effectively.
