Bourland Family Blog

“And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 -> me: Every day I am blown away by God’s faithfulness to provide — YOUR EVERY NEED!  Need for clothes, need for comfort, need for wisdom, need for patience, need for humility, need for companionship…should I go on.  Our family is blessed to be financially secure with income during this time but we have had other needs; God sized needs…and He has faithfully delivered when we have laid these petitions before Him.  God has been blessing us with faith building answers that just yesterday seemed impossible.  We are a living testimony to the goodness of God in our lives and His ultimate desire to show us His care and love for us.  This does not always come when you want it, but He supplies you with something else to help you through the hard time.  Our God is an awesome God!

“For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].” Philippians 4:8-9[AMP] -> me: Well, I didn’t get very far today…I went from verse 7 to verse 8 and dwelt…I usually post with the ESV but the Amplified version is so thorough and I think reveals more of what Paul was meaning in these sentences.  Following on the heels of yesterday this is a reaffirmation that the way I keep joy in my heart and rejoice, is by keeping this list of things on my mind and at the forefront of my thoughts.  I have really tried to bring thankfulness into my prayer life by spending time acknowledging what God has done; even just the day before.  Keeping my mind fixed on these things will help me see more of what God is doing in my day to day; it is a reinforcing circular dependency that can keep my spirits up and be the strength my family needs right now.  I can’t tell you how thankful I am that my quiet times have landed me here in Philippians this weekend.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7 -> me: What a great word for the last several days!  This is a set of verses to LIVE during this time…and any time for that matter.  ‘Rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS’ – What have I to fear from this world when there is nothing it can take from me that is more precious than what the Lord gives and has waiting for me.  ‘Let your reasonableness be known’ – Strive for this impression…”You know that guy Ben, yeah, that’s the one…you notice how he never seems to get rattled or surprised by what life throws at him?”   How do I become perceived this way?  I approach everything with requests to God, with thankfulness in my heart; and then, the unexplainable peace of God will guard my mind in Christ Jesus, His Son.  Here I sit on Good Friday, not thinking about COVID, no; I am thinking about my Lord and Savior giving His life to save mine…and the HOPE I now have knowing He will then conquer death on Sunday morning, paving the way for my eternal life with Him.  Nothing else can compete with that.

“For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” Philippians 3:18-21 -> me: There is some good conversation on who the ‘many’ are that Paul is talking about here in verse 18.  One idea is that these are Jewish Christians who are still leaning on the law as way to attain righteousness and justification.  The other is that these are a group of teachers who are saying that the body was an irrelevance once the mind had been illumined and the soul redeemed.  Therefore moral constraints could be ignored and no carnal sin could stain the pure soul – in some cases using grace as a ground of license (a false teaching Paul addresses in Romans 6:1 and following).  I tend to think he is talking about the latter group.  BUT!  Unlike these, our citizenship is in heaven!  I love this!  I am still drawn to Paul’s ‘tell you with tears’.  As much as these people were the enemies of the cross, Paul’s heart still ached for them.  I have to ask myself – do I have a deep sorrow for the people I see false teaching, no -> I find myself angry at them…even bitter toward them.  I need a heart more like Paul’s.

“I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” Philippians 3:8-9 -> me:  Today is (and will continue to be) a day of reflection and meditation on God’s Word.  I have about 10 – 12 passages memorized and after a time of prayer in the prayer closet this morning I realize my deep need for this.  I am reminded in my quiet time today that all that matters is ‘being found in Him’…that’s it…’being FOUND IN Him’.  When I am found in Him, there is nothing about me that matters because it is His righteousness I wear.  The more that I live in this place of fellowship IN HIM, I will find myself only doing things that reflect HIM.  When I live this life I am called to, it is in recognition that I have ATTAINED nothing…I have been GIVEN everything.  As far as committed memory verses, I am working on growing my list of memorized passages but here (in the comments) is what I have committed so far.

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world” Philippians 2:14-15 -> me: Another very impactful passage for me today during my quiet time.  ‘Do ALL things without grumbling or disputing’ strikes right at the heart of my struggles this week.  This, is in fact, exactly what I have been doing lately in regards to some answers to prayer I have been petitioning God about.  How am I supposed to be blameless and innocent of hypocrisy if I am not trusting and in active application of my faith?  What is crazy is that God has come through in spite of my grumbling.  Why is He so good to me when I am such rambunctious child of His?  I need to stay focused on what it means to be a shining light in light in the darkness for my Lord and Savior.  I have been rescued from this ‘crooked and twisted generation’, I need to act like it.  Lord God forgive me of my grumbling and discontentment.  Help me to stay strong in the peace and comfort you provide.  Help me to understand with wisdom the right decisions to make when faced with a direction to choose.  You Oh Lord are a Faithful and Resolute God; full of mercy and grace.  Who am I to question you?

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus” Philippians 2:5 -> me: The verses that follow are very well known (Phil 2:6-11).  Here is what I am taking away from that passage, in how my attitude needs to adjust. Verse 6 -> I should not focus on who I can be but on who God is through me.  Verse 7 -> remember the sinner I am and that I am less deserving of any grace than anyone else around me. Verse 8 -> I need to be driven to the goal of crucifying my sin everyday…dying to myself and my own motives.  Verse 9 -> My worth is in Jesus Who has been exalted to the ‘highest place’.  It is for Him that I do all that I do.  Verse 10 -> My knee goes to the ground in front of My Savior everyday.  Acknowledgement of Jesus as the king of my life.  Verse 11 -> I must be vocal about my allegiance to Jesus Christ.  My ‘mouth’ must confess Him as Lord so that if I am accused as a follower of His, I can easily be convicted.

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:3-4 -> me: As a person who struggles with pride, humility is an area of focus in my Christian walk.  I love how Paul directs us to look at the good points and qualities in our own fellow-Christians and to be watching for them so that we can recognize the good we do when those things (in faith) appear and are emulated in our own lives.  I just got done going through Peter’s letters where in 1 Peter 5:5-6 he says that we are to clothe ourselves ‘with humility towards one another’ as we humble ourselves ‘under God’s mighty hand’. Unless our humility begins in a recognition of our creaturely dependence upon God and our true condition in his sight, it will only show itself to the world as humbug and a false self-depreciation.  So, my pride and self-sufficiency go hand in hand to work against a true humility.  Said more clearly – If my humility doesn’t start with an understanding of the infinite evil that my sin is to an infinitely Holy God, then my so-called humility will be not be genuine; actually working against my faith as note of hypocrisy.   Lord God, help me lean into you for all my needs, not let my flesh lose faith and rip control away.  Help me to be aware of the people you bring into my life, who are a model of good, like Paul was to the church at Philippi.

“for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:19-21 -> me:  This attitude of Paul’s is something that I need to take note of and apply to my own life.  Paul is in a prison and shackled.  He just got done talking about how his imprisonment has been an advancement of the Gospel in spite of obstructions and dangers.  Now here, he leans on 1) the prayers of the saints and 2) the help given by the Spirit of Jesus to secure his deliverance…but that deliverance may be in life or death.  Paul knows that he should not be ashamed of how God uses him.  Christ will be exalted in his body either way.  If God continues Paul’s life through legal vindication, then Paul gets the opportunity to represent Jesus Christ further on this earth.  If God takes him in his captivity then he gains the promise of paradise in heaven.  What a way to live!  Paul walks so close in fellowship with the Almighty that his entire self is surrendered to the God Who saved him.  Paul’s priorities are in line with God’s will and purposes, and he knows that in whatever way God delivers him, God will be glorified.