When writing to the church at Philippi, Paul knew that there was some arguing and strife taking place in the congregation. Of course, these things are not God’s plan for His people, so Paul provided some reminders and instruction about proper Chrisian behavior.

In the flesh, it is natural to boost ourselves and our reputation. We naturally love to tell others how we are better or have done bigger things than those around us.

Paul told this church that we are to put away these attitudes and elevate or consider the brother or sister better than ourselves. We are not to look down on them.

Instead, we are to seek to help that person become richer in Christ. To do so, we need to pray for them and encourage them to grow in Christ and be faithful to Him when we can. We must do it in humility – not pride.

Developing this attitude takes prayer, time in the Word, and asking God for love for others more than ourselves. We must be able to see others as Christ sees them, and only then can we minister to their needs in a Christ-like way.

It is quite possible that our intentions may not be welcomed, but we are to try. It is also necessary, Paul says, to avoid strife and self-glory while trying to do so.

David…

I. Loved God’s Word

All through the book of Psalms, David’s love for the Word can be seen. He wrote Psalm 1:2 and practiced it: “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”

(vs. 99) “for thy testimonies are my meditation.

II. Meditated on the Word “all the day”

(vs. 97) “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.”

As we think about the Word through the day with the intention to learn and to practice it, God gives us a deeper love for it – and for Him. The word “law” refers to the whole Bible, not just to the Ten Commandments.

III. Hated False Ways Because of the Word

(vs. 104) “Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.”

The Word gave David a love for righteousness and a hatred for those things that displease God. Spending much time in reading, studying, and meditating on the Word will do the same for you and enable you to “approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:10).

IV. Was Blessed by His Meditation on the Word

In each of these verses (98 – 104), meditation on the word gave David several blessings that every Christian needs. They include:

1. (vs. 98) Wisdom greater than his enemies
2. (vs. 99) More understanding than his teachers
3. (vs. 100) More understanding than the aged men
4. (vss. 101,102) Desire to depart from evil to keep the Word
5. (vs. 103) Great love for the Word (“sweeter than honey”)
6. (vs. 104) Understanding of and hatred of false paths

Christian, has your time in the Word given you these things?

Most Christians are very familiar with this passage in Romans. In five verses, Paul emphasizes that there is nothing that can separate us from Christ’s love.

If there were anyone that should know, he had certainly put each of these troubles to the test. They included “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” In each case, he could boldly say that none of them was able to separate him from Christ’s love when he was going through those troubles.

The result is that he, and every Christian since, can be sure that Christ can enable us to be “more than conquerors through him that loved us.” We must notice that it is not our ability to endure trials, but it is His ability working in and through us that gives us that enablement.

As if the above list of possible trials were not enough, Paul expands it in verses 38 and 39. He adds: “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jude encourages believers to “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 1:21). It is His love for you that will enable you to keep going. It has no comparison. Your love for Him will be strengthened when you focus on His love for you: “We love him, because he first loved us” (I Jn. 4:19).

By drawing near to God and staying as close as you can with careful obedience, you will come to know His love daily and in a greater way. His love can keep you going, help you be holy, and enable you to serve Him better.

The word “gentleness” is a word you do not hear very often – especially when describing a man. Most young men prefer to display attitudes that they consider macho.

Jesus was certainly a gentle man. He was easily approachable by those who wanted the truth. Women and children did not feel threatened by Him. The people flocked to hear Him during the early years of His ministry.

Some may be tempted to think that He was not so gentle when He made a whip and turned over the moneychanger’s tables in the Temple. It is very doubtful that He whipped anybody. All He had to do was startle a cow or bull (550 to 1,000+ pounds) with the whip and there is no doubt that anyone who saw this animal quickly coming their way would move – without hesitation. Remember also His motive behind this action – to purify His Father’s Temple so God could be honored in it again – which seems to have been forgotten by these men.

Being gentle does not at all mean being weak.  No one could ever consider Jesus to be a marshmallow if they knew more about Him from the Bible. Unfortunately, many paintings of Him erroneously make Him look that way.

The thing that made the difference in Christ was that He was filled with the Holy Spirit. All He said and did was in love. God’s love in our hearts can make any person gentle, and it can make someone put others before themselves – a very rare attitude today.

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, he rode on a donkey – not a horse. A horse can scare people away, but a donkey would not do so easily. It was a gentler animal. By using a donkey (Zechariah 9:9 prophesied that their King would come this way), this King showed He was approachable, friendly, and humble – not arrogant, rude, uncaring, violent, and proud. Of course, when He comes back at the Second Coming, our King will show a different side because the time of His patience toward the unbelieving world and sin will be past.

It must be remembered that this kind of gentleness is given (produced) to the believer when walking close to the Holy Spirit. It is not something we do for ourselves. Gentleness works with patience and peace.

This well-known verse is known to many believers, but it is questionable that many know what it means. The first thing that stands out is that it is the Holy Spirit’s fruit – not ours.

He is the producer of these fruits, and not us. That means that when the Holy Spirit is in control that He will produce a supernatural level of these qualities that will likely surprise you at first.

Instead of getting angry at something that would usually upset you, you will find yourself experiencing an unusual degree of calmness. The same is true for the other fruits mentioned.

These nine qualities are not generated by us. We do not have to work them out, but we must be willing to let the Spirit work in those circumstances, so that He can produce the fruit in us.

It is interesting that the first fruit mentioned is love. Remember that God is love, and a person without love, or who has obvious hatred toward an individual or group of people, is not walking in the light. Paul mentioned that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (Ro. 5:5).

Christians also will not be suffering from anxiety when the Spirit is in charge. They will have the peace that passes the understanding. Our world is becoming less Christian friendly. If you want His supernatural peace, surrender to do His will and He will give you the fruit of the Spirit. Remember that this speaks of an inner peace – not necessarily an outward one.

People everywhere will tell you they love God and the Lord Jesus. Very few would want to admit that they do not, knowing that there are serious consequences to doing so.

Jesus set the standard while He was here. It is the only standard and way to measure whether we really love Him or not. Interestingly, it is not in agreement with what many professing believers think. Thank God – it is not a matter of opinion, but what the Son of God – Jesus Christ – Who cannot lie – has told us.

He said that two things are necessary to show if we truly love Him. First, you must know what He said that believers ought to do. Secondly, you must do them. It is not complex or difficult to figure out. Note that this is not referring to a works salvation, but it is a test for those who are saved to know whether they really love Him or not.

Once our hearts are obeying what He has told us, then we have His promise that God will reveal Himself to us. Both the Son and the Father will show themselves to us – in our hearts (not physical) – and we will know that it is Him revealing His love and presence.

Do you really love Him? “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.”

In I Corinthians 12, Paul compares the church to a body. He uses a singular form – “body,” not “bodies.”

It is a powerful illustration of what each believer is to each other. Just as a brain or a heart is useless without the other parts of the body, so is a Christian without the local church.

Many believers today think they do not need other Christians, but it is not true. They believe they can worship God in the woods or on the lake. Of course, they can, but that is not what God said we are to do. It overlooks the reasons why God said we need to meet regularly.

Christians need each other. That is why Paul tells us that the gifts each believer has are to be used to edify one another. They are not given merely for self. It is at church where prayers by others are offered to meet needs, as well as encouragement and Bible instruction is given. It is at church where the spiritual gifts are used, where we bring our tithes and offerings, and where we can be a blessing to other believers to help them through the week.

Growing Christians need more than head knowledge of the Bible. At church, they will see some mature believers and learn how to serve and live for God. They can also be a blessing to others.

A coal left to itself will go out. But when it is set beside other ones, it will warm up again and become hot. The testimony and lives of others helps keep the fire in the heart burning with love to God and other believers. This way, our love does not grow cold.

Anyone looking into the Old Testament will have to notice that God has done many mighty things for His people. They can be seen over and over again.

These mighty works were done for them for several reasons. Probably the most important was for God to show His people He loved them and wanted to be their God. Unfortunately, they often turned away and chose baser things and idols in His place. Then, to bring them back to Himself, He sometimes used His power again to distress them a little, that they might turn to Him again – instead of casting them off forever..

Jesus also did many powerful miracles – often in the presence of multitudes of people. Several of His miracles had never been done by anyone previously.

The greatest miracle, however, began when Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. To think that God would become man and take on a human body is incredible! It is even more amazing when you realize that He did it so that He could die in our place. His motive was love. He desired to redeem us from the Hell we deserve and to enable us to live with Him forever.

Our text verse tells us that He has done all these marvelous works with the intent that we would remember and think often on them. As His children do that, it will deepen both our love for Him, our faith in Him, and our service for Him. It is a good reason to stay in the Word that we may always be reminded of what He has done for us and for others.

Even though God has done many things for each of us at salvation and afterward, they are but tokens of the love that He will yet show us in glory. Oh, what glory awaits the faithful!

Have you thought of His works toward you today? When you do, thank Him for His compassion and graciousness toward you.

A lot is being said about the Olympics and sports in the media. There seems to be constant reporting about their lives, their wins, losses, and the trades of some of them to different teams.

Paul compares the Christian life to that of a race. In any race, if you want to win, it will take all you’ve got – and then some. You must practice harder than your competitors. You must run hard and give it all out there on the track. There is no room for slackness.

A careless moment or a distracted one can cost you the race. Only one person is going to win the top trophy or medal.

Many Christians I talk to are only half-heartedly (or less) serving Christ. For His love and sacrifice for us, we ought to be giving Him our all. Could we be doing more than we are to bring the lost to Christ?

Could we be more whole-hearted for Him than we are? Has our love grown cold that we find ourselves doing less than our best? Has your Bible been collecting dust on it and your prayer time forsaken?

Paul gives us a solution – “run, that ye may obtain.” Go for the gold medal! Don’t settle for the bronze one. Please Him in all you do, say, and think. Give it your all and Christ will recognize your work of love for Him and reward you accordingly. Nothing is done for Him is in vain as long as He leads.

Believers can have comfort in knowing that He sees us. There is no place we can go to hide from His eyes. God saw Jonah in the whale’s belly in the ocean depths.

In this verse, we understand that He also hears us when we call unto Him. He not only hears when we audibly talk to Him, but He can also hear the cry of the heart when not a word is spoken.

Some people like to light candles when they pray. Other religions believe they must bang drums to get their god’s attention before they pray. Still others have prayer wheels that supposedly keep repeating their prayers. Thank God, the born-again believer does not need to do any of that.

He is our Father and He cares for all His children. He loves us all infinitely.

Even though He promises to hear, we must remember that He does have some expectations of us. By His love and grace, He redeemed us from the penalty of our sin. We told Him that we were sorry for our disobedience and asked Him to forgive us and save us. Our redemption cost God the life of His Son. Although He gives us free will, out of thankfulness we ought to love and serve Him.

Many believers pray but receive few answers. It is often because they are disobedient. The verse above reveals His willingness to hear. If you have no answers to your prayers, it might be because you are out of His will.

The joy of the believer comes in the doing of His will and walking close to Him in daily fellowship. I John 3:22 tells us: “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in has sight.”

If you are not getting answers to prayer now, the one prayer He will hear is the prayer of confession. If you are serious, He will hear that prayer and fellowship will be restored.