Episode 495

TODAY’S READING

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Philippians 2:5-8

 

Do you serve the kingdom of Alison, or are you serving the kingdom of God? And that very question provokes the thought, you know, what are we as Christians doing in our lives that contribute to the building of the kingdom? You know, serving the kingdom of God means submitting to his ways and means to repent to your sins. It means to pray without ceasing. It means to pray in your private time; it means to pray with your friends and your family, and it means to pray over your friends. And your family. It means to humble yourself. It means to look to his kingdom first and foremost in all things. It means to find obedience and your every single day life. It means to find discipline in your life. He gave you the gift of self-control. He gave you the gift to be disciplined but ultimately, as we see in this verse, we are to follow his example. And rather than using his equality with God, as this verse says, He made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant being made in human likeness and being found in the appearance of a man; he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death. So I hope that today we take that and we apply it to our lives, and we continue to better the kingdom of God.

 

Prayer

Father, God, we love you, and we thank you for this beautiful Friday when we are getting ready for the weekend. We’re getting ready to rest in your presence. Lord, we’re getting ready to find joy in every day of our weekends with our friends, with our family, with our church families, and, Lord, we are gathering today on this beautiful Friday to remind ourselves what it is to live this Christian life to walk out this life that you called us. So Lord, today we take it all to you. We surrender the moments in which we fall into temptation. We surrender the moments in which we live in the shadows. The Lord, we also surrender the work that we do behind the scenes and the work that we do in front of others. Because in that work, we continue to allow you to shine your light through us. We want to serve your kingdom first and foremost. May we serve your kingdom by humbling ourselves by praying without ceasing, but ultimately by finding the obedience to be humble servants, that means looking at your people at all times, looking to serve one another, looking to be that light of joy that ear to listen to that voice to lean on. We want to be a reflection of you. So today, we surrender that to you today. We ask for your strength, and we look to you to ensure that we are serving your kingdom first and foremost; we pray this all in your holy name, Amen.