Team devotional #2

Why do I post these? Well for one I would like the parents of girls to know what we are sharing with the girls at volleyball.

Volleyball Devotional

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

This is one of my life verses and the reason I like Tinker Bell. I can apply Philippians 4:8 to almost any situation in life. Philippians 4:5 & 8 is the answer to so many issues we face.

Philippians 4:5 says - Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near.

Letting our gentle spirit be known to all shows humility. We cannot be harsh, disrespectful or hurtful if we are letting others see our gentleness.  Coach Jimison is an example of humility for me!

Taking all thoughts captive and asking ourselves what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praise worthy and dwelling on these things will stomp the lies, frustration and disputes out of our situations. Filtering our words and actions with these questions of what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praise worthy stops us from saying or doing things to others.

Before saying or acting on a thought if I run it through these questions I am amazed how much I either do not do or I do not say.  This is the war Paul talks about is from within – the flesh and the spirit. The struggle between self-serving motives and others serving motives.  Do you remember our last devotional?

We have nothing inside us to fight the desires to say or do things without hurting (whether intentional or unintentional) unless we have the power. The power is LOVE.

1John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

LOVE power – Love that is from God and God alone. Power that comes from the Holy Spirit. We receive that power when Christ becomes the Lord of our lives. When we know the sinful flesh and we are disgusted by it. When we think before we speak – how someone may be hurt by what we say or sometimes what we do not say.  When we think before we post stuff on Instagram or any place in cyber space. By our actions to include or not include someone, sometimes that can be as easy as wanting to sit by someone otherwise than who is sitting next to you.

Our gentle spirit is shown through our life and a life that desires to glorify God will filter every aspect of it through Philippians 4:8 and will show the You before me love that Christ showed to us that day on Calvary. 

Lets Pray!