Day 10: Philippians 4:4-8

REVIEW YOUR MEMORY VERSES

Write them in your prayer journal without peeking. No cheating. See how far you get. Then, after a couple of minutes of trying to find the words, then peek and write out the rest and make corrections as necessary.

Then, prayer journal your thoughts today, right now, on those verses.

A FRESH WORD

Are you seeking to see something new and different each time you think of those verses, say them, and read them? Yes or no. Write that question and answer in your prayer journal.

That should be your goal, by the way. We have the choice of focusing on a word, or a phrase, every single time we read and re-read a verse. We can do our best to see new insights of the verse and can pray to God for this. I guarantee He will answer and will teach you wondrous things about the verse—even if you’ve said it, read it, heard it several times in the past. After all, the Word is alive and active (see Hebrews 4:12 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17).

“SEE THE VERSE”

I probably should have stated this long ago in this lesson and will do so now. Every single time you see any verse mentioned in this study, look it up in your own Bible. Use your favorite versions or translation. And, if I ever put, “See verse so and son,” by golly, don’t keep on reading. Look it up. Then, prayer journal about it. There is a reason why I put it there. It’s to make more of a point and is to bring you closer to God and into His Word. I guarantee, without hesitation or doubt, you will get even more out of this study if you do.

Also, look up the context of the verses I quote or mention. See the next section for information on this.

THOUGHTS ON WRONGLY QUOTING A VERSE: HOW TO AVOID IT (CONTEXT IS THE KEY)

One thing that is a major pet-peeve of mine, that spins my head on its axis, and shout (not with joy) is when people wrongly quote a verse. This, unfortunately, happens more often than not, with everyone’s favorite verses.

So, how do we avoid it?

1 Look up the verse you quote. Even if you memorized it. Look it up. What if your memory about it is wrong, even if everyone else quotes it the same way you do. That being said, make a list of all of your verses you like to quote, along with all of your life’s memory verses and do these suggestions in this section.

2 Look up four verses, at least, before and after the verse or verses you quote. Do so even if you have to look back in a previous chapter or into the next, or even if it’s a book of the bible. Just make sure to do this.

Why?

It gives you context.

KEEPING THINGS IN CONTEXT

Let me give you an example of keeping things in their proper context. Look up Matthew 5:29 or 5:30. And, just look at those verses. What they tell you to do is cut off the offending part of your body. Literally. Right? Yes. It is literal, if you don’t read the context.

While that example may seem extreme, is it? Taking a verse out of context, and quoting it wrong, can be the matter between eternity with God or in hell. And, it can mean the difference between salvation. We never want to be a stumbling block for someone else and we surely do not want to be one for ourselves.

Think about it and apply. (Sorry to be so to-the-point and blunt, but eternity is at stake. It’s something we should take VERY seriously.)

Philippians 4:4-8 NLT

4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

-- NLT: Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

PITFALLS AND MIRROR GAZING

Are you ready for another pet-peeve of mine that curls my hair every single time? Remember what I said earlier about taking a verse out of context. Well, we even take something within a verse out of context. But, let me give a little more of an introduction before I continue.

Inspirational quotes tend to get to me and I am weary and leery of them. Christians should NEVER quote something by someone else, or claim it as a favorite, unless they check it first against the Bible. (That’s a simple rule of thumb about that and pretty much everything else in life.) Again, most of the motivational and inspirational quotes we like or use goes directly against the Bible—and far more importantly, against God. We must be very careful about this.

I realize we live in a very lazy and me-oriented society, where we are so busy we don’t stop and take the time to live our proper priorities. (Again, I’m looking in the mirror.) So, we do not want to take the time to check and see what others quote holds up against the Bible or if what we say does. (My reflection can sure be revolting at times. But, I still look, so I can grow in faith.)

Goodness, I sound quite opinionated, don’t I? (Go ahead and shake your head. I would.) Well, I am, I must admit. Why am I so opinionated and in-your/my-face? I’m looking in the mirror, after all. I’ve been there, done that. Not just once. But, repeatedly. I’ve fallen for taking verses out of context more often than I would care to do so. I also have taken motivational quotes and claimed them to be a life quote or one to live by—when they have gone against the Holy Bible, the Word of God. Never mind, how I have also, been too busy to open my Bible, not just for a day, but for a month or more! (Gasp. Shaking head. Feeling heart tug.) I know how slippery of a slope these things are. I know. I really, really know—firsthand the dangers of these pitfalls. (More looking in the mirror.)

WITH OR WITHOUT GOD? THAT IS THE QUESTION: A QUESTION ABOUT JOY

You’re about to see why I’ve been going on my rants and tangents about my pet-peeves. There are many of these within Philippians 4:4-8, our memory verses. I hope you’ve already figured them out since you’ve spend the last seven days repeating these verses, learning them, and allowing them to sink in down to your marrow, and have done so morning, noon, and night.

Remember earlier in the last section how I mentioned another pet-peeve of mine, that we all do or have done at one time or another? That was when I mentioned how we take things out of context—and that includes taking parts of a verse out of context from within the context of the verse itself, never mind within the chapter? Well, again, Philippians 4:4-8 are full of these blunders of taking verses out of context and parts of verses within verses out of context.

Let’s start with joy.

If I were to ask you, what brings you joy, what would you say? Or, where do you find joy? Please do not think of Philippians 4 when you answer this. And, please prayer journal your answer.

Let’s be honest. How many of us would say any of these?:

-- Joy is found within

-- Joy is a choice.

-- Joy is something we create, make, or choose?

My hair is curling. Those are wrong. Dead wrong. Those go against everything the Bible says. Nope. Try again. Now, read Philippians 4:4. What does it say about joy? Please write your response in your prayer journal.

Where do we find our joy? The answer is: IN the LORD. Not anywhere else. Not in anyone else. It’s found in God alone.

Prayer journal your thoughts.

Have you had your thoughts of joy wrong? If so, how? Answer those questions in your prayer journal, please.

I know I have had this wrong in the past and sure had it wrong recently. I forgot the phrase: IN THE LORD regarding joy. How about you?

IN THE LORD = true joy.

In the Lord is the only real, authentic, true joy. It’s found in Him alone. All other joy sources are fake and are substitutes.

Prayer journal your thoughts.

I could go on and on here. So, could we. But, let’s not. Let’s think about this all day and night until tomorrow’s reading: Rejoice in the Lord continually and always.

Prayer journal your thoughts. Take a lot of time to do this today. Spend as much time as you can, and in spurts, all day and night. Take time to rejoice in Him.