Author: Pastor Mike

The Kitchen Table Devotions

Philippians 4 Day 4

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!

Philippians 4:4

As long as we’re praising Jesus, we’re painting beautiful pictures of our God and ourselves.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

Philippians 4 Day 3

Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.                      Philippians 4:3

Never forget the objective is beauty.  It’s easy when we’ve given so much, to be offended by so little.  And it’s hard for a bruised and broken person to think about beauty.  Keep yourself well.  The beauty of Godly relationships is that we watch and work to help each other live in beauty.   Have a family of faith that pursues beauty, not just business.  Jesus came and lived and died and rose from the dead to make us beautiful in His sight.  We saved to do the same. 

The Kitchen Table Devotions

Philippians 4 Day 2

I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord.                Philippians 4:2

Contention is an ugly thing that defiles and destroys the beauty of a person and in a person.  Contentment in Jesus is beautiful.  We can disagree without being destructive.  Always value the other person and value the One you love.  It’s really all about trusting Jesus, not winning the debate.  It’s trusting Jesus that wins the day and His contentment is beautiful, making those around us beautiful too.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

Philippians 4 Day 1

Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved

Philippians 4:1

There is no better ambition than making beautiful lives.  There is no greater joy and reward than making the lives around us beautiful.  God gives us beauty for ashes (Is 61:3 kjv).  Bringing beauty to those around us is the work of the Lord in us.  Make that the ambition of your life.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

Philippians 3 Day 15

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.                     Philippians 3:20-21

Never forget whose you are!  It’s the key to the life you live.  We belong to heaven, not here and if that changes death creeps in.  We are citizens of heaven and that controls our attitudes and our ambitions.  We live looking for Jesus whose we are.  He alone has the power to bring us heaven here and now as well as then and there.  Only Jesus can transform life now and then.  Live looking for Jesus, it will keep the mind from fear and death.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

Philippians 3 Day 14

Brethren, join in following my example and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. ¹⁸ For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, ¹⁹ whose end is destruction, whose god is their  appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.

Philippians 3:17-19

The life we’re living is the life we’ve chosen.  We live in what we walk out.  It’s not hard to understand, God has set before us life and death (Duet 30:15) and we get to decide if we want to live n abundance or affliction.  God told Israel their ways and brought these things on them (Jer 4:18).  Walk according to the pattern we have in Jesus, choosing life and prosperity in Him.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

Philippians 3 Day 13

Let us therefore, as many as are  perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; ¹⁶ however, let us keep  living by that same standard to which we have attained.   Philippians 3:15-16

Let your attitude, ambition, and awareness be Jesus.  Let Him fill your heart and your head today.  Just start where you are and live in what you know and be faithful.  When we’re faithful with a little, God makes us faithful with more.  Start with where you are but be looking for more because God is the God of more than enough.  We always have a choice.  Choose Jesus!  That’s how we let it happen.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

Philippians 3 Day 12

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

 Philippians 3:13-15

Don’t stop!  Don’t ever stop!  Until you see His eyes and feel His touch, don’t ever stop because God will never stop on you.  Let go of yesterday to grab hold of tomorrow.  God has great things in store for those who turn and trust in Him.  Jesus laid hold of us to make us full of Him, completely well and free in Him.  Don’t ever stop until you’re standing in Heaven.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

Philippians 3 Day 11

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus             Philippians 3:12

Push!  Never stop, never settle.  God has more than we can even imagine.  The enemy of good is just good enough.  Don’t let family, friends, or foes stop your pursuit of God and all that He has for you.  “Push!”  Don’t let the world tell you what is good enough; go all out for God.  Jesus laid hold of our lives for a reason, push yourself to know more of Him and why He’s laid hold of you.  This is what makes the Christian life exciting.

The Kitchen Table Devotions

Philippians 3 Day 10

that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and  the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;  in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:10-11

The gravity pull of sin is death.  Once sin entered the world, the natural pull of everything was down into death.  But Jesus broke the gravity of the grave.  He broke it and made it possible for everyone who knows Him to live in victory over the gravity of the grave.  Because we know Him, we can know this power to live.  We can know this power to live forever and in everything we do until forever gets here.  Because He lives, we can and will.