Daily Bible Devotionals

“I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot.  I have learned the secret of being content – whether in abundance or in need.  I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.  Still, you did well by sharing with me in my hardship.” Philippians 4:12-14 (HCSB)

Can you imagine yourself in a state of contentment?  What would make you happy?    

For me, I’m at a beach house.  I have no mortgage, no debt.  I have enough money to cover any reasonable whim.  I’m thin, tan, and there’s a south swell coming in.  Let’s go surfing!

It’s easy to be content when we’re living our dreams.

What if, instead, we were forced to endure a nightmare?  What if, while lying on my dream beach, a tsunami came and swept away the coastline?  I survived but lost the use of my legs, my family, and everything else.  Now, I’m alone, bankrupt, and physically incapacitated.

Is it possible to contently praise the Lord when our conditions are displeasing?  Paul says, “Yes!”

It is a great mystery, but true contentment is not about maintaining a positive environment.  It is also more than maintaining a positive attitude.  Contentment, or “joy,” is a gift from the Lord that transcends your particular situation and attaches itself to God’s never-changing character and promises.

Paul says he “learned it.” He endured both abundance & hardships, and God proved faithful through both!  God was faithful to deliver Paul from prison, and He was faithful when Paul was thrown into prison.  God is always faithful.  And there is peace in knowing that.  

Here is another thing we know: Whenever Paul suffered, people believed in Jesus!  They would ask, “Why else would Paul volunteer to suffer unless he KNEW Jesus was Messiah?”  Paul’s message is different from the “prosperity” gospel of today.  Paul’s approach sounds more like a “disparity” gospel!  Yet, Paul was an effective evangelist, nonetheless.

If Paul learned contentment by experiencing God’s faithfulness, he perpetuated contentment by continuing to heed God’s call.  The secret to contentment is to trust and obey the Lord through all circumstances.  We must learn to trust He will never leave or forsake us, even if following Him leads us through hard times or even martyrdom.

It is good to entrust Jesus with our “souls.” But how well do we trust Him with our lives?

“Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Messiah and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Messiah – the righteousness from God based on faith.”   Philippians 3:8b-9 (HCSB)

To be “known” is a basic human need. To be “found out” is a basic human fear.  

While some strive to project an image of perfection, I don’t think any sane person actually believes they are perfect. It reminds me of the proud man who stated, “I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.” Now, that’s denial!

Much of the anxiety in our culture is based on being “known” without being “found out.”  Here’s how it works. We are all insecure, so we buy into an image of how we should look, dress, or act. This image is always slightly bigger than life. It is the “us” we want to be. By the way, we get the image(s) from three sources: the World, the Flesh, and the Devil.  

If the image is cast well, it is never fully attainable; it is ever elusive, always barely out of reach. So, our whole lives are focused on obtaining the impossible. Even if we could obtain the image, we couldn’t sustain it for long. It is constantly morphing. The moment you finally get in fashion, the trends change!!

This is a hurdle for the contemporary church. “Contempo” means “With the times.”  The moment a congregation gets “with the times,” the times have already moved on. We must base our ministry on something more solid than a passing social, musical, or style trend. We must build on the solid foundation of Scripture, which never changes.

Deep inside, we know the image is a lie, but we continue to strive for it. This is because we are so afraid of being rejected that we hide in the World under the mask of the image. We simply want to be accepted and valued. That is also why, when people find God’s unconditional love actually determines their worth, they quickly start abandoning their Worldly image pursuits.  

Having excelled in non-Messianic Judaism, Paul made it his goal to be known ONLY as a follower of Jesus. He had once tried to live up to the image of a Perushim (a Pharisee). Compared to others, he was outwardly righteous, but inwardly, he was not at peace. Paul counted that former “image” of righteousness as rubbish because it was rooted in lies and fueled by vanity.

In short, we should be “known” as people who were formerly in need of salvation, and we should be “found out” to now be righteous by faith in Messiah, Jesus alone.

Grab your Bible & experience the Groundworks Ministries Podcast as Steve Wiggins leads us through the full chapter of Philippians 2. Click the links below to watch or listen now!

“For it has been given to you on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him, having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear about me.”  Philippians 1:29-30 (HCSB)

“Hey, Paul! How are we supposed to convince sinners with THAT kind of theology? Struggling? Suffering? Dude, you don’t understand this post-modern culture…?”

Paul’s statement certainly raises some questions and concerns about what we should expect from following Jesus. The “problem of pain” is, perhaps, the Church’s greatest dilemma, moving ahead. We live in a culture of luxury. Ours is an “i-centered” world, complete with iTunes, iMessage…iChurch. The point is that our world seems to revolve around how we feel.  

You can tell our narcissism by the complaints we have about church services. “The music was off today.”  “The preaching went long.”  “The parking lot is too crowded.”    

News flash:  God connects more deeply with us through hardship than abundance. Consider the September 11th tragedy of 2001. Remember how quickly our national focus changed to “God, save us!”? Recall how soon folks abandoned the Lord once the immediate hardship seemed to diminish.

Some within the Church believe that Christians never have problems as long as they are friendly people and live according to the “golden rule.”  When such people observe your pain, they say it must be the result of your sin. Any difficulty in their life they attribute to the sins of others. This theology is negligent of Paul’s teaching. It is heresy because Paul exhorted that suffering is a GIFT from the Lord. It is part of His grace to us!

Alongside the gift of salvation, through faith in Messiah, we also receive the gift of living “in Him.”  Consider the lives of Jesus and Paul. Who wants to be beaten, stoned, shipwrecked…crucified? Yet, they considered it all joy in light of the hope set before them.

Hardship is inevitable and also a privilege for believers. How so? It builds faith.

“Blessed is a man who endures trials because when he passes the test, he will receive the crown of life that He has promised to those who love Him.”  James 1:12 (HCSB)

We trust God, initially, because of the observable testimony of faithful believers. When we read the Bible, we learn of God’s holiness and His faithful interaction with mankind. This leads us to trust His leading in our lives. He leads us through hardships, where we learn the REALITY of His faithfulness instead of abstractly believing in the THEORY of it. Thus, our faith and boldness builds. Observable faithfulness attracts unbelievers. And the whole process starts again.

“Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength.  Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil.  For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.  This is why you must take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.  Stand, therefore, with truth around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest, and your feet sandaled with readiness for the gospel of peace.  In every situation take the shield of faith, and with it you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word.” Ephesians 6:10-17 (HCSB)

In the final statements of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul elicits imagery from Israel’s dark past.  He recalls a time when Satan’s tactics were effective against the nation of Israel, which had fallen into national sin by abandoning the truth of God’s Word.  This is especially relevant to modern believers in light of recent pew surveys.  Research has uncovered that 57% of so-called “Evangelical” believers do not believe Jesus is the only way to salvation.  That assumption can only be reached by being ignorant of the Bible.  Isaiah’s warning to pre-dispersion Israel mirrors Paul’s exhortation.

“We all growl like bears and moan like doves.  We hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.  For our transgressions have multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us.  For our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgression and deception against the Lord, turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.  Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off.  For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.  Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil is plundered.” Isaiah 59:11-15a (HCSB)

Isaiah’s last sentence is relevant today because the absolute truth of God’s Word has been scuttled in so many so-called “churches” and is exchanged for a seemingly more convenient message.  When people abandon evil (repent from their sin) only to embrace a false gospel and benign operational theology, which rejects the absolute truth of the Bible, they are twice deceived!!  

Isaiah continues: “The Lord saw that there was no justice, and He was offended.  He saw that there was no man – He was amazed that there was no one interceding, so His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness supported Him.  He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation in His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and He wrapped Himself in zeal as in a cloak.” Isaiah 59:15b-17 (HCSB)

In Jesus, we are called to be those men and women who conduct spiritual battle, interceding and evangelizing, standing in the gap, and connecting people to the truth of the Gospel.  And our only weapon for which to wage the offensive is the very thing the world (and many in the church-at-large) has rejected: The sword of God’s Word!

“Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk – not as unwise people but as wise – making the most of the time, because the days are evil.  So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.  And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled with the Spirit: speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.”  Ephesians 5:15-21 (HCSB)

We live in an age where many professing believers spend very little time reading the Bible.  To be honest, most followers of the Messiah would admit they should spend more time studying God’s Word.  When asked why they spend so little time searching the Scriptures, the average believer answers that they simply don’t have the time or feel inadequate to comprehend the text.  Believers generally prefer to have the Bible filtered and dispensed through a preacher/pastor than to read it for themselves.

Today, God’s message to us through Paul’s letter is that we should be wise, careful, and understanding of the Lord’s will.  The Lord’s will comes in two varieties: Revealed and Unrevealed.

For instance, an example of God’s unrevealed “will” would be something like…how the antichrist will rise to power in the world.  While theologians may have varied opinions about end-times scenarios, we will not know precisely how God will accomplish His will until He reveals it in His time, according to His great wisdom.  Until then, the best we can do is to speculate.

As for God’s revealed will, that’s easy.  It is the Bible.  Everything we need to know about God, having a right relationship with Him, and living a blessed and fulfilled life is contained in the pages of Scripture.

Before one comes to know Jesus in a saving way, they are unwise.  They may have been successful and wise in the ways of the World, but in God’s eyes, they were foolish.  For instance, I used to live to party.  I loved the fashion of partying, party people, and mostly the music.  It all glorified my Worldly lifestyle.

But by God’s grace, I was saved, filled with the Spirit, and began reading the Bible.  Through the Bible, God began revealing how I should honor Him with my life.  The Psalmist correctly said, “He put a new song in my mouth.”  My song changed because the object of my worship had changed.          

Beyond that, when I began applying God’s instruction to my life, He began replacing my desires for “self” with the desire to serve others.

“And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.  Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.” Ephesians 4:11-14 (HCSB)

God desires that we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of His Son, Jesus.  His will is that we would each grow into mature believers with a stature that would measure up to the fullness of the Messiah.  In short, it is time for us to move beyond being consumers of ministry and begin contributing to it.

When you heard the gospel (those who have heard and believed it), you probably learned that God has a wonderful plan for your life.  That is true.  A while back, Rick Warren sold a few books aimed at helping people discover their “purpose” in life.

God’s desire for every individual is that they enter into a saving relationship with Him.  Beyond that, He desires that each of us grow in faithful maturity.  To aid us in that endeavor, He has gifted us with the Holy Spirit, Who teaches us and reveals the truth of God’s Word and “impels” us with the desire from within to obey it.

When we choose Him, He chooses and gifts us individually to serve His “body,” the greater body of the Messiah.  Some believers He endows with the ability to start ministries.  Others may prophesy, evangelize, pastor, or teach.  The list continues…

So, in which way has He called you to minister?  No matter what your occupation is, your preoccupation should be to draw nearer to God and to be used to draw others near to Him.

We read the Bible with the intent to know and obey the Lord.  In doing so, we seek to become more faithful and mature.  And we understand that while there are many opinions and “versions” of the gospel, there is only one TRUE gospel.  Therefore, pray that the Lord would reveal His truth to you so that you could not only expose the lies within false teaching, but you would also lead others in the way of truth.

“The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above.  By reading this you are able to understand my insight about the mystery of the Messiah.  This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.  I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of His power.” Ephesians 3:3-7 (HCSB)

Suppose some ethnic gang hassles your neighborhood.  They extort money and terrorize your family, and it gets really bad.  This gang’s corruption has even infiltrated the government.  There’s nobody to call for help.

Now, suppose this gang’s terror has been going on for several generations.  A prejudice of hatred has grown among your community against every one of this gang’s ethnicities.  Your only hope is that you’ve been taught to believe that God would, someday, send a Deliverer Who would stop the terror.  Your whole life’s plea to God is like generations past, crying out, “Save us from those people!”

Finally, in His perfect timing, God responded to those prayers.  He sent the promised Deliverer.  You’re thinking, “Now, those people are going to get crushed!” But, instead of destroying and publicly humiliating all the members of that gang’s ethnic community, your Deliverer has other plans.  He decided to atone for their sins and offer them grace and forgiveness if they would repent and receive His atonement by faith.

How would that make you feel?  I bet your answer is close to what many Jews felt when they learned that Messiah came first to atone for sin and offer salvation to all people before He returned to judge and punish the world’s sin.  

Jesus identified that the REAL problem in the world was not primarily its different people groups; the problem was how sin had affected those cultures.  He understood that sin had infected BOTH the Jew and Gentile cultures.  Thus, Jesus did not elevate any people group above another regarding their need for atonement or its accessibility to anyone who seeks it.  He came to wipe the slate clean for all, so to speak, and give everyone a choice for a new start.  This was so that all ethnicities could glorify Him together by God’s grace and the Spirit’s enabling.

I can relate to how the Jewish leaders felt when Jesus spoke of a “good Samaritan” and commanded, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I can also identify with the prejudice Paul faced when he asserted that the mystery of the “prophets” in the Tanakh (Old Testament) was: All of us Jews need atonement, and Gentiles can receive it, too!

“So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.  The whole building, being put together by Him, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord.  You also are being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2:19-22 (HCSB)

I love going to church!  Every week, folks of varied ethnic, economic, and educational backgrounds come to worship the Lord together.  I love it when people who would otherwise never mingle come together in close community simply to seek God.  Most of us know Jesus in a saving way, and I pray the rest will know His salvation soon!

I didn’t grow up in a culture that readily embraced unity, even for the sake of the Gospel.  I grew up in the Southern U.S., towards the end of an era of horrible racial division.  I recall an instance when I was a fifth-grader in Mississippi.  On the way to school, my school bus pulled to the side of the road.  The door opened, and a member of the Ku Klux Klan, in full robe and hood, boarded our bus and passed out “hate literature.” You see, we were “white” kids being bussed to schools in “black” neighborhoods.  That enraged an unsavory element in the backwoods culture.

The disgusting irony of the KKK is how they use the “cross” as their central icon, albeit a burning one.  The argument that Jesus loves all people, regardless of race, to the point where He would die for them is lost on racists.  Their actions and values are by no means “Christian.”  

From reading the Bible, we understand that Jesus would never endorse the agenda of a group like the Klan!  The same goes for the actions of the Nazis, medieval Crusaders, and Spanish Inquisition.  While each of these “hate groups” claimed to speak on behalf of God, their agendas simply couldn’t jive with the life and teachings of Jesus.

That’s not to say Jesus won’t judge sin.  I am simply saying that sin is not specific to any people group.  Everyone, regardless of ethnic or social standing, is born into sin and needs atonement.  Jesus makes His gracious plea of atonement, by His grace through our faith, to all men, regardless of ethnicity or socio-economic status.

I chose this passage today because the church continues to grow.  We are expanding in terms of numbers by grace and knowledge of God’s Word.   I believe God is building our group, human stone upon stone.  The cornerstone of our group is the Cornerstone of our faith: Messiah Himself.  We are diverse but unified in the knowledge that Jesus is the only way to salvation for all who believe.  Regardless of our sin origin, we share a common destination, and each of us has become an altogether new creation by His grace.  We read the Word, and we sing His praises.  It is evident He has brought us together because His Spirit abides within and among us!