joy

Sing A New Song! Part Two

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For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come into His courts. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness! Tremble before Him, all the earth.

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.”

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness; Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.”

Praying With Joy ~ Part Two

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Philippians was written in AD 61. My heart  was captured as I thought about how much Paul loved the folks in Philippi. In verse 3 he said that he thanked the Lord every time he thought about them.

He joyfully prayed for them. Verse 5 clues us into the reason for that joy. It says, “For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.” At the least, we are talking about a nine year relationship, though apart physically.

Verse 7 says, “…I have you in my heart…” Verse 8 says, “For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.” Paul loved the Lord. He loved the folks in Philippi with the same love, because of their fellowship with him in the furtherance of the gospel. Verse 4 awakened a desire to explore praying for others with joy ~ fellowship through the gospel.

Praying With Joy ~ Part One

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I began my journey to meditate through Philippians. The Holy Spirit arrested me at verse four. It says, “Always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy.” This is why I love meditating through a book. He shows me things that were hidden before in my reading.

Let me ask you: do you pray with joy for the ones you pray for? I haven’t. I’m usually so intent on presenting others to the Lord with their dire needs. I went back to Acts 16:6-10. Paul and his team had intentions to go preach the  gospel in Asia. Forbidden. They tried to go to Bithynia. Not permitted.

Then, in a vision, Paul received the Macedonian call. You can read what happened in verses 11-15. As I looked at the map in the back of my Bible, Philippi was way at the tip of his journey. The time was dated as AD 49-52.