Philippians

Your Mind

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Our thoughts are just as important to God as our actions, and are known to God as clearly as our actions.

Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount that God’s commands are intended not only to regulate outward conduct, but inner disposition as well.  It is not enough that we do not kill;  we must also not hate.  It is not enough that we do not commit adultery;  we must not even entertain lustful looks and thoughts.

Just as we must learn to bring the appetites of our bodies under control, so we must also learn to bring our thought lives under obedience to Jesus Christ.

The bible indicates that our thought lives ultimately determine our character.  Holiness begins in our minds and works out to our actions.  This being true, what we allow to enter our minds is critically important.

– Jerry Bridges

 

O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.

– Psalm 139:1-4(NLT)

 

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

– Colossians 3:1-3 (NIV)

 

…people judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

– 1 Samuel 16:7 (NLT)

 

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

– Philippians 4:8 (NLT)

 

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

– Romans 12:3 (NLT)

 

…let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes

– Ephesians 4:23 (NLT)

 

So roll up your sleeves, put your mind in gear, be totally ready to receive the gift that’s coming when Jesus arrives. Don’t lazily slip back into those old grooves of evil, doing just what you feel like doing. You didn’t know any better then; you do now. As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am holy; you be holy.”

– 1 Peter 1:14 9 (MSG)

 

The neglected heart will soon be a heart overrun with worldly thoughts; the neglected life will soon become a moral chaos.

– AW Tozer

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Strong

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

The Christian often tries to forget his weakness;  God wants us to remember it, to feel it deeply.  The Christian wants to conquer his weakness and to be freed from it;  God wants us to rest and even rejoice in it.  The Christian mourns over his weakness;  Christ teaches His servant to say, “I take pleasure in infirmities.”  The Christian thinks his weaknesses are his greatest hindrance in the life and service of God;  God tells us that it is the secret of strength and success.  It is our weakness, heartily accepted and continually realized, that give us our claim and access to the strength of Him who has said, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

…And if we want to know how the power is bestowed, the answer is simple:  Christ gives His power in us by giving His life in us.  He does not, as so many believers imagine, take the feeble life He finds in them and impart a little strength to aid them in their feeble efforts.  No, it is in the giving His own life in us that He gives us His power.  The Holy Spirit came down to the disciples direct from the heart of their exalted Lord, bringing down into them the glorious life of heaven into which He had entered.  And so His people are still taught to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.  When He strengthens them, it is not by taking away the sense of feebleness and giving in its place the feeling of strength.  By no means.   But, in a very wonderful way, leaving and even increasing the sense of utter helplessness, He gives them along with it the consciousness of strength in Him.  The feebleness and the strength are side by side;  as the one grows, the other also grows, until they understand the saying, “When I am weak, then am I strong…I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:10,9).

…He lives a most joyous and blessed life, not because He is no longer feeble, but because, being utterly helpless, he consents and expects to have the mighty Savior work in him.

– Andrew Murray

 

For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.

1 Corinthians 4:20 (NLT)

 

Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.  Each time He said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.  That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

– 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NLT)

 

“And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.”

– Luke 24:49 (NLT)

 

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere.”

– Acts 1:8 (NLT)

 

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

– Philippians 4:13 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

Contentment

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

All our discontents about what we want appear to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.

– Daniel Defoe

 

…give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

– Proverbs 30:8 (NIV)

 

Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something to do which must be done, whether you like it or not. Being forced to work, and forced to do your best, will breed in you temperance, self-control, diligence, strength of will, content, and a hundred other virtues which the idle never know.

– Charles Kingsley

 

If you cannot get what you like, why not try to like what you get?

– Author Unknown

 

Young men, I beseech you earnestly, beware of pride. Two things are said to be very rare sights in the world~~~one is a young man humble, and the other is an old man content.

– J.C. Ryle

 

The secret of contentment is the realization that life is a gift, not a right.

– Author Unknown

 

He might live a thousand years twice over but still not find contentment….

– Ecclesiastes 6:6 (NLT)

 

Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it.

–  1Timothy 6:6-7 (NLT)

 

Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

– Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT)

 

Photo by Susie Stewart

What you deserve

/ Susie Stewart / Leave a comment

Next time you are tempted to allow yourself

to be weighed down by forgiven sins,

remember that Jesus already got what you deserved.

 

He reminded me of that recently.

I was walking my dog Larry and started to slip on some sidewalk ice.  I didn’t fall down and the thought popped into my mind, “I probably would have deserved that”.

I had been hashing over some past regrets.  Not a healthy way for me to be spending my time on this beautiful dark evening under the stars with Larry and God.

As quickly as that downgrading thought entered my mind, I then also heard in my mind, “I GOT what you deserve.”

Such a swift response.  It took my breath away.

Yes, my Jesus!  You paid the ultimate price for all the sins I’ve committed and instead of me getting what was coming to me, You, my beautiful Savior, took the punishment I deserved.

You paid the ultimate price for me.  And You have forgiven me.  You continue to forgive me.

You didn’t deserve that.  I did.

 

And I want to consciously and graciously accept the forgiveness You give,

and move on.

 

Because that’s what You desire.

Moving on.

Turning the opposite direction.

Doing better.

Being free.

 

“I GOT what you deserve.”

 

Regret and sin

need to be left in the past

 

– Susie Stewart

 

“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.

– Isaiah 43:18,19 (MSG)

 

 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

– 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

 

No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,  I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.

– Philippians 4:23,14 (NLT)

 

…this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many.

– Matthew 26:28 (VOICE)

 

Photo taken by Susie Stewart

God-Man

/ Susie Stewart / 1 Comment

Jesus was touchable, approachable, reachable. And, what’s more, He was ordinary. If He were here today you probably wouldn’t notice Him as He walked through a shopping mall. He wouldn’t turn heads by the clothes He wore or the jewelry He flashed. ‘Just call me Jesus,’ you can almost hear Him say. He was the kind of fellow you’d invite to watch the Rams – Giants game at your house. He’d wrestle on the floor with your kids, doze on your couch, and cook steaks on your grill. He’d laugh at your jokes and tell a few of His own. And when you spoke, He’d listen to you as if He had all the time in eternity. And one thing’s for sure, you’d invite Him back.
– Max Lucado

 

Christ Jesus… being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!
– Philippians 2:5-8 (NIV)

 

Jesus is like us in every respect—human body, heart, mind, and will—except for sin.

How amazing that the divine Son of God would not just take on part of our humanity but all of it—and then take that true humanity all the way to the cross for us.

Jesus took a human body to save our bodies. And he took a human mind to save our minds. Without becoming man in his emotions, he could not have saved our emotions. And without taking a human will, he could not save our will. In the words of Gregory of Nazianzus, “That which he has not assumed he has not healed.”

He became man in full so that he might save us in full. Hallelujah! What a marvelous Savior!

– David Mathis

 

For this reason He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people.

– Hebrews 2:17 (NIV)

 

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin.

– Hebrews 4:15 (NLT)

 

Photo taken by Susie Stewart