To Live Is Christ | Daily Devotional 1633

You're listening to My Morning Devotional Podcast, episode 1633. Today's evil is called To Live Is Christ.

Hey there, we're the Alexis, 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. Happy Wednesday. I want to let you know that I just messed up this entire intro. I had to redo it. I have the intro memorized, and somehow I completely blanked, and I think it's because it's Wednesday. So I hope that your Wednesday is going better than this. But the great thing is that we have the word, and it's going to be a great episode because of the word of God. And um, I want to get right into it because it's been an amazing week so far. I felt so blessed to read Philippians, and this was Gabby's idea. Gabby's had some amazing ideas lately, and uh, she was like, hey, let's go through the book of Philippians, and it's truly blessed me. So I hope it's blessing you. And please comment below um what this week is teaching you, what what you feel like this week is doing for you. We want to hear from you guys. I feel like this week is kind of challenging back and forth, and so we want to hear from you. So please in the comments let us know. And um, let's get right into it. We're gonna be reading Philippians 1, 19 through 26, and it says, For I know that through your prayers and God's provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in my body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what I shall choose, I do not know. I am torn between the two. I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is a better by far. But it is more necessary for you that I remain in my body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again, your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me. To live is Christ. This these verses honestly are harder to read than they are easy, because Paul is like we uh have said in prison, and he is coming to the realization that this is not easy, and he's okay with saying, if I die, I'm going to heaven, and I spending my eternity with Jesus Christ, that person that he is in prison, prison for, which shows you his love for the Lord, his life was the Lord. This truly shows us that Jesus just wasn't just a part of Paul's life, Jesus was the everything to him, the center of his life, the everything of his life. Jesus wasn't just the priority, Jesus was his everything because everything he did was by thinking, will this promote the gospel? Will this show Jesus? And will his name be proclaimed? You even see that even in death or life, he could see that Jesus will be exalted. Yet he chooses the harder thing for him, and it is to live, because he knew there were still people that needed to hear about Jesus. He knew that his circumstances at the moment, he had so much trust that his circumstances at the moment the Lord would deliver and that Jesus will be proclaimed. That's how much confidence Paul had in Jesus, but it shows even deeper his love for him. That nothing made him waver when it came to his belief in Jesus Christ. And this is so beautiful for us to see because all of us come in life and we have to make the choice of is Jesus a part of our life? Do we only go to church on Sundays and don't think about anything else for the rest of the week? Is Jesus in our home? Is Jesus only at church? Is Jesus only with my friends? Is that something I kind of just do because my parents did it? We all have to come to the point where we say Jesus is our all and it's our decision, no matter what our lives look like, because we will have the confidence to say the Lord will deliver, but most importantly, that Jesus is being shown through us. You know, guys, there are moments in our lives where we are going to go through really hard things. And when we are going through things, it's so easy, like we said, to complain, to see the lack, but also to become kind of selfish where we are just looking at the things that we are going through. And it's fair, it's happening to us, and it's not easy. Some of these things really hurt. Um, some of these things were so unexpected. So I'm not trying to make your situation feel like it's less than. Please hear me, but I am not. But no matter what we are facing, we have that choice to think is Jesus our all or not? Because when we truly make Jesus the Lord of our life and the everything, no matter what we face, we will not be shaken by it and we will not feel like that's what defines us for the rest of our life. Because we find our hope, our joy, our confidence, our everything in Jesus. And when we put our eyes on him, everything else is not as big as we thought. Because we see how big he is, we see how amazing he is, we see his sovereignty, we feel his peace. We get to feel him and hear his thoughts and read his word, and that truly edifies us every single day. And so, yes, we are gonna have to answer that question. Is Jesus part of our life or is he the all in our life? And I hope that we can all get to the point on our lives when we can say, Hey, Jesus is my all, he's my love, he's everything to me. And no matter what I'm going through, no matter what I've been through, I know that this will just be to proclaim his love and his and his faithfulness and who he is. And so I'm going to readjust my mind and I am going to just be in awe of him and know that everything will fall right into place. Because even in this verse, Paul is so confident that I know he will deliver me. Because if he does, his name will be exalted, and you guys, other people will have confidence in Jesus because of what they saw Jesus do for me. But it comes when we have this mind to say, Hey, I believe in Jesus, he's my all no matter what. And you're gonna see how there are people who come to Jesus because they see that in you. And they'll be surprised to one day hear what you went through, and they're gonna say, You were going through that, and you're gonna say, Yes, but the Lord deliver me, and you're gonna see those people have so much confidence in the Lord and want what you have. So let's pray today. Father God, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your love and for always providing a way for us. Lord, I pray that you will make yourself so real to us that we have no other option but to say, Lord, you are the Lord of our life, not just part of our life, but of our entire life. That the reason we wake up is you, the reason we breathe is you, the reason we keep going is you, the reason why we're kind is you, the reason we love is you, the reason why we have passion is you, the reason why we have dream is you, Father, that everything that comes from our life, it comes directly from our love to you and our passion and commitment towards you. And so I pray that this will be our life. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

So there you have it, your five minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you've found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.