| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Living with joy” Our Bible verse for today: “And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Your maturity can be their joy” Many years ago, I adopted the practice of praying for every church member every Friday. I open the church pictorial directory, I look at every person’s picture, and I pray for them by name. (I also pray for those whose pictures are not in the directory, as well as for attenders who are not yet members, and for recent visitors.) I believe it’s helpful and a blessing for them to be prayed for like that, but it’s also a source of joy for me to take that time to think more deeply about each one of them and to bring them individually before the Lord in prayer. In Philippians 1:9-11, as Paul continues this letter about joy and the things that bring him joy, he writes about how he prays for the Philippian Christians. He writes that he prays that their love, knowledge of Christ, and their ability to use good discernment will keep growing. In the previous passage he told them how much joy it gave him to witness the depth of their spiritual maturity, and now he prays that they will continue to mature even more. That will give him even more joy. (I can relate. As the pastor, it brings me a lot of joy to witness people growing in their relationship with Christ.) Paul also prayed that they would be pure, blameless, and righteous – people who honored God with their conduct. All of that is the outgrowth of a life that is fully committed to Christ. Being a person like that, and being associated with people like that, is a source of great joy. Lastly, Paul prays that all of this will be to the glory and praise of God. In other words, the more the virtues of love, discernment, good character, and godly righteousness were achieved in the lives of the Philippians, the more of a testimony it would be to glory of God. And so that is exactly what Paul prayed for them. Not only would all of that bring joy to the heart of God, it would bring joy to the heart of Paul. I think we often underestimate the extent to which our spiritual maturity impacts others. A spiritually mature person brings joy into the lives of other people. Your spiritual maturity is a good thing for you and for all those around you. I encourage you to be intentional and thoughtful today about making the joy of the Lord in your life a source of joy in someone else’s life too. God bless, Pastor Jim (If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville |
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Oak Hill Baptist Church 
I wanna be prayed for in your church directory every Friday. What a wonderful thing to do. Blessings!
Good morning Donna. You’re in! I will write your name in the back of the directory and include you.
Awwww thank you! Somewhere I belong! Thank you. Blessings!