Public Confession | Daily Devotional 1640

You're listening to the My Morning Devotional Podcast, episode 1640. Today's Devo is called Public Confession.

Hey there, we're the Alessis, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida. And if you're like us, when days get busy, the to-do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why every weekday we share a five-minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast.

Good morning, everybody. Stephanie here, and I hope that I've blessed you this week with my devos. I'm a little scatterbrained because I just had my baby and I'm in babyland. So if these devos encouraged you, please let me know. I would love to hear your feedback. And if there is something specifically that has encouraged you, please let us know in the comments. If you are enjoying our Devos and you like listening to us, then you can become a My Morning Devo member. Just subscribe to our Buy Me a Coffee, and you can get a newsletter, new bonus episodes, and exclusive content every single month. I promise you, you will love us if you subscribe. So let's dive into this. I'm going to bring us to a close since it is Friday. And let's just dive into the rest of Philippians 2, starting at verse 19, it says, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one else like him who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father, he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope therefore to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon. But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, co-worker, and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs, for he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. Indeed, he was ill and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but also on me to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again, you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. So then welcome him in the Lord with great joy and honor people like him, because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me. Stephanie, why did you read all of that? Well, because I think it is so important to remember these two things as I close out my week. Number one, the church has been filled with people from the very beginning. Imperfect people just doing ministry together, getting sick, worrying if they're going to be in trouble health-wise, the whole church coming together to pray for them. It has been the same since what how long ago was this? 2,000 years ago. It has been the same. And the church that you are a part of today looks so much like the church Paul is writing about right here. And I love when they start to get into the details of his letters explaining Epaphroditus and Timothy and them all praying for each other and the history of them becoming ill and him worrying that he almost died. Because it is it brings so much peace to my heart knowing we don't have to be these perfect individuals, these perfect Christians to be part of a church. It has been comprised of imperfect people from the very beginning, just simply serving each other and praying for each other. So, like I said this past week, if you're wondering what your part is in all of this in your church, just obey and serve, and you will see that you're already walking in the will of God for your life. If you're serving the people at your church, if you're praying for them, if you're giving to them, then you're doing what Paul did all those years ago. You're doing what Timothy did. You're doing what Epaphroditus did. Can you imagine if there was a letter today? Would you be included in that letter? Would you be mentioned in that letter for how much you're serving, for how much you're giving, for how much you're praying, for how much you're loving? You don't have to be this perfect person. You just have to be somebody who's willing to serve and be obedient to God. And whenever he asks you to do something, just respond with a yes. I am there. Whatever you need from me, God, I will do it. And you will essentially be doing what Paul did, be doing what Timothy did. So that's the one thing I want to mention, closing out my devos. The second thing I want to mention is your public confession. I mentioned earlier this week that I had to search into the depths of my heart to see if I was believing any lie about myself, about my identity. And I had to cover it with scripture. And what I did was I didn't just read scripture out loud. What I did was I took verses and I put my name into those Bible verses and I said it over myself every day. I didn't do it for 20 minutes. I didn't even do it for 10 minutes. I did it for five minutes every morning. And I would go to Philippians and I would say, let's take example. Um, verse one, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in 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 of one mind. Right there, I would take that verse and I would say, Lord, I pray that you will make Stephanie, me, like-minded. I will have the same love. I will be one in spirit and of one mind. I will do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, I, Stephanie Mina, will in humility value others above myself. And that became my public confession every single day. And I would confess scriptures over my mind, over my heart, over my attitude. I got ahead of anything that might have come my way that day, and I put scripture at the forefront of it. So today, this Friday, start your day off by confessing scripture over your mind and your heart and your attitude. And watch. If somebody comes at you with a bad attitude, if your boss has to talk to you about something tense, if you and your spouse are arguing, if your children are driving you crazy, you will see that because you put this guard up of scripture, because you got ahead of it and you spoke scripture over your mind and heart and your attitude, those things will be like water off a duck's back. Because you don't walk and you don't respond to the things of this world. You respond to the truth God has given us in scripture. You stand on a foundation of Christ before anything else. And that will give you an attitude of peace. That will give you the words of joy to speak over your workplace. That will give you the wisdom you need to navigate your children, to navigate your life and your household. It will just give you the wisdom you need to walk you through your day with joy and peace and to represent Jesus. So I pray that this has encouraged you. I pray that it has uplifted you. And I pray that as you go into this weekend, you will have a guard of scripture over your mind and your heart and your soul and your attitude. So that when people see you, they see Jesus. Let's pray. God, we just thank you for giving us your scripture to stand on. We thank you that it protects us, that it guides us, it guards us. And Lord, it gives us the power that we need to get through our days, to get through our seasons, Lord. Lord, we pray that when people see us, they don't see ourselves. They don't see Stephanie, but instead they see Jesus. That when they hear my voice, they don't hear my opinions, they don't hear my thoughts, but they hear scripture, they hear your thoughts, God. And that, Lord, today and this weekend, we will be perfect representations of you and you alone. You are our foundation. We come into alignment with your truth and nothing else. We are walking through your paths, you order our steps and you widen our paths, Lord, so that we walk in authority, we walk in boldness, and we walk in peace that you have given us. And in Jesus' name we all pray. Amen and amen.

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