December 31, 2024 -- Philippians 1:3-5 -- Who is your partner in the Gospel?

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 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
Philippians 1:3-5 ESV
 
Who is the most steady influence for good in your walk with God? Who has helped you so that their prayers and encouragement could be called a partnership in the Gospel? One reason Paul was so thankful to the Father for the members of the Philippian congregation was their genuine interest in Paul’s ministry. Some background is helpful. This is the first church planted in Europe. While Paul was in Philippi, some quickly responded to his missionary work among them. Afterwards, they were faithful in providing for his needs.
 
When a brother or a sister is a strong encouragement, it is evidence of God’s grace and peace given to you (as indicated in the opening blessing communicated at verse 2). His Spirit brings such encouragers into your life. Have you thanked God for them? Are there people whose young walk with God needs support and mentorship? Ask the Spirit to direct you so that if you are called to be that mentor, you will be faithful in fulfilling your duties of care.
 
If you have been tracking on memorization, it is day four and you will be five verses in. If you are ambitious and good at memorization, then memorizing five verses a day means you might already be at verse 20, where Paul is commending the Philippians for their prayers on his behalf and his hope that through their prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus he will not be at all ashamed (but you can read this yourself if you haven’t memorized this far yet).
 
Back to memorization. Do not get discouraged if the process of memorization is slower than you’d expected. If you are not used to memorizing, let me assure you it takes some retraining of the brain. How do I know you can memorize? You know the names of many of the members of your work group. You remember the rules of the company. You know the names favorite teams and players. A good friend of mine is chapters ahead of me in memorization. This is a wonderful encouragement for me to keep going and reminder it is very possible to memorize. Happy New Year y’all.
 
God our Father thank You for those whom You have placed in our life. Thank You for the partnership in the Gospel they provide so that Jesus Christ and His benefits are proved to be precious to us. Thank You for their prayers, mentorship and encouragement. 2025 stands open before us with so much potential. Faithful God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit lead us into a deeper and fuller relationship with Jesus Christ so that the Father is ever more perfectly revealed to us. Spirit lead us to those whom we can mentor so that they will grow in maturity in the Gospel and one day soon they themselves will become mentors for the partnership in the Gospel. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/Z5SARNm0M8A?si=lMHkXl9uVmGsTyjs God of Every Grace
 

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