Note:  this is a continuation of Pastor Ray's daily devotional

January 25
Philippians 3:2-3
“Watch out for those dogs, those wicked men and their evil deeds, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved.  For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.” (New Living Translation)

Is Paul really warning us about dogs?  He is – but not your cute, furry pets.  He is issuing a strong warning about evil and dangerous doctrines that promote a legalistic faith. 

 In the Bible dogs represent unclean animals.  They roamed in packs, ripping, tearing, and devouring.  God’s people are like sheep and dogs bark at and bite sheep.

Paul taught the grace of God with passion and unwavering faith.  He had lived under the law most of his life until Grace burst into his life in a flash of light and revolutionized everything—his concept of God, his relationship with God, and his own personal identity and faith. 

He hated watching his fellow believers fall prey to legalistic predators who use the law to control and manipulate. Over and over Paul warns us about false teachers, undermining and perverting what he taught about grace.  A true work of God often attracts a crowd—and where the sheep are gathered, dogs and wolves come to prey.

 “You foolish Galatians!” he cried in frustration to the church in Galatia when he saw this very thing happening.  “Who has bewitched you? ...Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard?  Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Galatians 3:3:1-3). 

Physical rites have no value unless there is a corresponding spiritual experience.  The circumcision of the flesh means nothing if there is no circumcision of the heart.  Baptism is an important ritual, sanctioned by the Lord.  But you can get dunked or sprinkled and have it mean nothing unless your HEART is immersed into the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.  It is your belief, your faith that saves, not the ritual or the good deeds.

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24).  And the truth is NOT our good deeds, though they can be a reflection of our love for God. The law is a teacher, showing us right and wrong.  But it is also a stern taskmaster whose standards we cannot achieve.  That is why we need Jesus.  That is the truth—which Jesus said  “shall make you free” (John 8:32).

Our Christian lives are based on what God did and continues to do for us—His completed work on the cross, where He gave the ultimate in loving sacrifice.  Watch out for anyone who tells you otherwise!


January 26
Philippians 3: 8-9
“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, 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 is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” (NIV)
“Oh, God,” someone once actually prayed, “I thank you that I am not like other people - robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man.  I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.”  Maybe you’ve never actually heard those exact words, but if you’ve been in religious circles long you have felt that sentiment often enough.  These words were actually spoken by the religious leaders of Jesus’ time, the Pharisees (Luke 18:11-12). 

The Pharisees were upright, righteous people, no doubt about it.  They observed the law, performed their service to God religiously—and loved to talk about it. They may sound exaggerated to you, but I know that I can look at times in my own life when I began to look way too much like a Pharisee.  Suddenly, things are feeling good with God, I’m on a spiritual pinnacle – and somehow, it’s easy to fall into judging everyone else who doesn’t live by the same standards of holiness by which I live.

Look at another character in the Scriptures by contrast: A tax collector, not considered the most righteous of professions in those days, “stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner'”  (Luke 18:13).

What did Jesus say about these two? "I tell you that this man [the tax collector], rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

A judgmental spirit is a sure sign of SELF-righteousness, not godly righteousness.  Paul learned that from his days as a Pharisee – he counted all the self-righteousness he had earned as “rubbish” – or as another translation puts it more graphically, “dung.”  He had learned to be honest—just as we can be.  Honest to admit that we have problems with sin, with our flesh, with our attitudes, and the only righteousness or good that dwells within us comes from Jesus. And the only work that really counts begins with our faith in Him.  The rest is rubbish!

“People wrap themselves up in the flimsy garments of their own righteousness and then complain of the cold.”  —Sherwood E. Wirt


January 27
Luke 10:41-42
“"Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed...”

“As you listen to the conversations of the world, they are for the most part, conversations of the deaf.” —Paul Tournier
Everybody has something to say.  Everyone wants to be heard.  The problem is, nobody is listening.
As Jesus traveled about the country, He stopped one day in Bethany to visit two sisters, Mary and Martha.  Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem — to die.  Before the journey’s end, He would stop many more times to teach and minister, but here, with these good friends, He stopped for rest and refreshment.  The inner battle that threatened to consume Him intensified daily as He prepared to go to the cross.
Martha, eager and excited, celebrated His visit by offering the best her household could afford.  She fussed about the kitchen, banging pots and pans, stoking the fires, dishing up food, pouring wine, determined to prepare Jesus the best meal He would ever eat.
While Martha scurried about, her sister Mary simply sat down at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him talk.  Eventually, Martha stopped long enough to cry, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work myself?  Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered,  “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” 
We usually look at this story from the point of view of Mary and Martha’s needs.  But Jesus had a need as well: peace and quiet.  With the cross before Him and turmoil brewing inside Him, He needed to draw strength from loving friends.  He had turned to Bethany to find an oasis.  Outside, hundreds, even thousands of people could gather into a crowd with just one miracle from His hands.  Martha’s home could be the calm before the coming storm — which is what Mary gave Him, and Martha, despite her good intentions, did not.
“One thing is needed,” Jesus said.  Mary tuned into the one thing Jesus needed, and ultimately, what she needed as well.
With all our efforts and all the best of intentions, we can end up doing the right things but doing them our way.  We like to do good our way, to be kind our way, to be Christian our way.  But if our way doesn’t turn out to be the best way, we get offended and think we’re not appreciated —by God and by others.
True communion and fellowship requires that first we listen to others, attempting to hear what is really being communicated—and forget ourselves, as we become lost in another’s needs.
Mary listened and perceived that all that Jesus wanted was for her— and her sister— to draw as near to Him as possible.  Jesus tried to stop Martha, to slow her down, to interrupt her busyness as He called out to her,  “Martha, Martha…only one thing is needed.”
How many of us are missing that “one thing?”

January 28
Philippians 4:6a
“Be anxious for nothing...”

“Be anxious for nothing” – what an amazing feat that would be!  “Nothing” it says. We’re not even given a little room to be anxious for a few small things.  God is telling us that NOTHING is worth robbing us of our peace.
Worry can become a lifestyle, a habit that shapes our attitudes and erodes away our faith.  The habit of worry can gain such a stranglehold on your life that it becomes part of your personality.  You find yourself approaching situations with an anxious attitude, and eventually it begins to rob you of your health and your joy.

Doesn’t everyone worry?  Maybe.  Maybe it’s even normal. But it is still a sin.  Why?  Because it violates some of the most basic commandments of God and because it robs us of a close relationship with Him.

C.S. Lewis, in his masterful book, “The Screwtape Letters” describes just how hard our enemy, Satan, works to cause us to sin.  Written from the point of view of the demons, who regard God as the Enemy, he writes: [Senior devil Screwtape to junior devil Wormwood]: “There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human’s mind against the Enemy.  He [God] wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them worrying about what will happen to them.”

If we can be kept worrying about tomorrow, then we are distracted from that which really matters in life.  Anxiety and worry cause us to carry burdens our heavenly Father never intended us to bear, and to turn what in reality are small matters, better left to God and His wisdom, into heavy devastating circumstances.  No wonder Jesus warned us about the “cares of the world” (Matthew 13:22)!

Now having said all this, I know that it’s easy to tell someone—even if that someone is yourself—not to worry, that it’s a sin, etc. etc.  But it is hard to put it into practice when you are accustomed to worry and your anxiety levels rob you of the strength to fight it.  I liken it to athletic training or just getting into shape.  There is an answer.  Prayer, and trust. 

But sometimes all you can do is start with step one and utter a simple prayer asking God to help you pray.  Then you step back, with no condemnation, and let His Spirit minister.  Even if you don’t feel it, you can know He is there.  Every day, at every wave of anxiety, pull your mind away from the subject, think about Jesus and His love, and say a prayer.  And every day you will grow stronger. 

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” —Corrie ten Boom




January 29
Philippians 4:6b
“...in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God...”

The things that most concern me and are prone to make me worry are the very things I need to be praying about.  In yesterday’s devotional, I talked about the fact that it can be hard to pray when anxiety, worry or the “cares of the world” get a foothold in your life. 

These hindrances to prayer are very human emotions that are a process of our minds, of imaginations out of control, of being too focused on ourselves and our inabilities to cope. We are reminded again and again throughout Scripture to turn our thoughts to the Lord, to go to Him with all our needs.

One of the best mental and spiritual exercises we can do is 2 Corinthians 10:5:  “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ...”

What “exalts itself against the knowledge of God” more than worry, anxiety, and fear?  Our knowledge of God is that He promised, “I will never leave nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).  If I believe that, that He is always with me, then I need to believe that once I have prayed – about anything and everything—I can trust God to take care of it all.

“The self-sufficient do not pray, the self-satisfied will not pray, the self-righteous cannot pray.  No man is greater than his prayer life.” —Leonard Ravenhill

January 30
Philippians 4: 7
“...and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

The peace of God is a miracle.  There are situations in life when we experience Gods peace, when it’s not logical, rational, or even emotionally plausible.  But it happens. And it is beyond understanding. 

Notice the steps that precede this, if you read the verse above in context. Be anxious for nothing.  Pray about everything.  Then peace WILL guard our hearts and minds. 

The word “guard” is more accurately translated “kept with a garrison.” Between the child of God and threatening circumstances stands a garrison.  God’s peace was protecting the apostle Paul as he wrote this in difficult circumstances.  “A great river of peace was thrown like a moat around the citadel of his soul.”  God’s peace is the antidote Paul offers us for disturbing thoughts and emotions.  It is the same peace that quieted the storm tossed Sea of Galilee, and gave peace to the tormented soul of the demon-possessed man of Gadara. 

The peace of Jesus ultimately prevailed, beyond understanding, unshaken by conflict, crises, and even the Cross.  When He appeared in the Upper Room after His resurrection, His greeting to the disciples was, “Peace” (John 20:19).

In a world where we are constantly tossed about by one storm or threat after another, we need something to guard our minds’ destructive thoughts, and to keep our hearts at rest – and God’s Word promises us that His peace will do that.  That is my prayer today, for myself, my loved ones, and you, that God’s peace will be our garrison, and our protector.

“The storm was raging.  The sea was beating against the rocks in huge, dashing waves.  The lightening flashed, the thunder roared, the wind blew; but the little bird was sound asleep in the crevice of the rock, its head tucked serenely under its wing.  That is peace: to be able to sleep in the storm!  In Christ we are relaxed and at peace in the midst of confusions, bewilderments, and perplexities of this life.  The storm rages, but our hearts are at rest.  We have found peace—at last!” — Billy Graham