Daily Hope Devotional

“I will continue to rejoice. For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance.” (Philippians 1:18b-19 NLT) When things are falling apart, don’t try to work it out yourself. Just let God put the pieces back together. If you’re facing a problem, you’ve got two options: You can worship or you can worry. That’s it! This is what I call the faith factor. Paul says in Philippians 1:18-19, “I will continue to rejoice. For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance” (NLT). In that one verse, Paul gives several sources of strength so you can stay positive and happy in tough times. First, you have to keep God’s perspective on your problems. Paul says, “For I know.” It’s what you know that keeps you going. Paul knew God was working in the midst of his struggle, and he kept God’s bigger perspective. Secondly, Paul had people praying for him, and it kept him going. ...

“It does not matter! I am happy about it — just so Christ is preached in every way possible, whether from wrong or right motives. And I will continue to be happy.” (Philippians 1:18 TEV) You can be happy no matter what happens in your life if you don’t let others control your attitude. In Philippians 1:15-17, Paul talks about four kinds of people who were affecting his ministry while he was in prison in Rome. There were some who he considered comrades and who encouraged him in his ministry. Others were criticizing, competing with, or conspiring against his ministry. “Some of them preach Christ because they are jealous and quarrelsome, but others from genuine good will. These do so from love, because they know that God has given me the work of defending the gospel. The others do not proclaim Christ sincerely, but from a spirit of selfish ambition; they think that they will make more trouble for me while I am in prison” (Philippians 1:15-17 TEV). Few things rob your happiness f...

“I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News” (Philippians 1:12 NLT) If you want to be a happy person, you need to look at every problem from God’s viewpoint. Happy people have a larger perspective. They see the big picture. When you don’t see things from God’s point of view, you get discouraged, frustrated, and unhappy. No matter what’s going on in your life — the good, the bad, and the ugly, God is working out a plan. Paul knew this. He says in Philippians 1:12, “I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News” (NLT). Ever since Paul became a Christian on the road to Damascus, he had dreamed one great dream: He wanted to preach in Rome, the center of the universe at the time. His dream was to preach the Gospel in the most important city in the world. But God had another idea. Instead of sending Paul to Rome t...

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for 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 NIV) I want you to think of somebody who irritates you — maybe somebody you’ve got a strained relationship with or who just rubs you the wrong way. I have two questions for you: One, do you pray for that person? Or do you just complain and grumble and nag and nitpick? If you prayed more, you’d have a lot less to grumble, complain, nag, and nitpick about. It’s your decision. Does nagging work? No. Does prayer work? Yes. So why do you do more of the thing that doesn’t work than does? Paul says in Philippians 1:4, “Whenever I pray, I make my requests for all of you with joy” (NLT). Paul didn’t just pray for people in his life; he prayed with joy! There are ...

“I thank God for the help you gave me.” (Philippians 1:5a NCV) Developing an attitude of gratitude does not come naturally. We are not by nature grateful people. We are by nature discontented. We always want more or something different. In the book of Philippians, Paul was writing to the church that he started in Philippi, where a woman named Lydia opened up her home and, along with others, welcomed Paul to the city. The Philippian church even helped fund Paul’s missionary journeys. In Philippians 1:5, Paul says, “I thank God for the help you gave me” (NCV). The thing is, Paul didn’t have a good time in Philippi. In fact, it was one of his roughest churches to get started. When Paul went to this city to start a church, he was beaten, whipped, humiliated, falsely arrested, thrown into prison, and survived an earthquake. Then, he was politely asked by the city leaders to leave town. Yet Paul told the believers, “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God” (Philippians 1...

“Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God.” (Philippians 1:3 NLT) Study after study has linked gratitude to happiness; psychologists and sociologists have proven that the more grateful you are, the happier you are. If you want to have healthy relationships, you have to start with an attitude of gratitude. You will be far happier and enjoy your relationships more if you will develop the habit of being grateful for the people in your life. Philippians 1:3 says, “Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God” (NLT). That simple truth is the source of good relationships. When people stop doing this in a marriage, they crumble. When you stop remembering why you got married in the first place and the good times in your relationship and you stop being grateful for your mate, your marriage is on a long slide into oblivion. When you think of the people in your life, is your first feeling gratitude? Probably not. More often it’s, “What do they need to do for me? What a...

“Do your own work well, and then you will have something to be proud of. But don’t compare yourself with others.” (Galatians 6:4 CEV) Satan will try to steal your joy of service in two ways: by tempting you to compare your ministry with others and by tempting you to conform your ministry to the expectations of others. Both are deadly traps that will distract you from serving in the ways God intended. The Bible warns us never to compare ourselves with others: “Do your own work well, and then you will have something to be proud of. But don’t compare yourself with others” (Galatians 6:4 CEV). There are two reasons why you should never compare your SHAPE, your ministry, or the results of your ministry with anyone else: - First, you will always be able to find someone who seems to be doing a better job than you, and you will become discouraged. - Second, you will always be able to find someone who doesn’t seem as effective as you and you will become full of pride. Either attitu...