Philippians 2:1-30
For the second day in a row, I report that our Men’s Group two days ago called up today’s verses 10 and 11: …at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We were discussing I Corinthians 12:3 – …no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. I mention in my first comment in the first link below that the refrain, “He is Lord” runs through my head every time I read these verses from today’s reading. Our bottom line from that discussion is that anyone saying (or singing!) “Jesus is Lord” with meaning, with feeling, does so by the Holy Spirit within. So if you say it or sing it and mean it, then no doubt the Holy Spirit is residing in you. What a wonderful thought!!
…so that … I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (v. 16b) I can relate to what Paul is saying here. Carol and I have been blessed to see a number of people have their faith strengthened, in some measure through our relationship with them – many of these in the “Read Through the Bible” groups we have formed over the years. Just in the past week we saw a married couple reunited with their daughter – our Godchild – after a couple of hard years between them. We had been praying daily for the parents and our Godchild; we even visited with our Godchild a few months back doing what we could to heal that breach. And now that they have renewed their relationship, …we rejoice; yes, we rejoice! (v. 1:18) But one modification to verse 16b – it’s not pride that we feel, it’s a humble thanksgiving for God through His Holy Spirit working in the lives of parents and child to bring them back together. Glory!
See also: July 28 / Philippians 2:1-11; July 29 / Philippians 2:12-18; July 30 / Philippians 2:19-30
In our women’s group we are studying Philippians. We are just finishing chapter 1, so there have been a lot of “Holy echos”!
Yesterday, one of our God’s Girls asked whether Jesus as a child knew whether he was God, we were talking about how humble he was to take on human form, exactly the point in verses 5-8. One of our precious girls said that He probably didn’t know as a baby. But that God probably taught or told him who he was. Then we had a discussion that Jesus did know by age 12 at the temple, the age of some of our girls. Whew! Glory sighting.