Pray:
Ask God to orient or reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Philippians 2:1-8, “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!”
Understand:
Humility plays a huge role in our walk with Christ. It’s counter to all we hear today. “If you don’t watch out for yourself, then nobody will…” is a common message we tend to hear from the secular world. So, having a right perspective in our relationship with Christ is essential. In Philippians 2, Paul shares with us what that perspective should look like and what it should lead to.
God is the One we should serve; it’s not the other way around. We only have to look to Jesus to see what this should look like in the Christian life. He humbled Himself by taking on human form and by allowing Himself to be killed for our sins.
Paul gives us an all-inclusive verse on how to live the Christian life in a way that is magnifying to God and brings the “pleasure of worship” into our lives. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)
Paul wants us to think about Christ by looking to the interests of others. The funny thing about this…the more you think about Him, the less you think about yourself! This is where the pleasure of worship is to be found.
Apply:
How much of your thought life is focused on you? What needs to change? What is one thing you could do today to look to the interests of others? Will you do it?
Turn your eyes upon Jesus and look full into His wonderful face; let the things of this world grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Immerse yourself into the pleasure of worship!
Live:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY.