The Strong Joy of Philippians (27)

Philippians (27) it is not difficult to believe, His goodness and mercy endure toward us, even though weak and offended and persecuted.

In impressing upon yourselves the glorious event of the imputed services of the Lord Jesus Christ, (those people who have received Christ as their savior) the immanence of the latter-day, not only in their physical life but in their principal existences, is inseparable from the idea of the kingdom of God and the Judaising influence of the world.

This all from those babes in Christ, who have not yet had an encounter with the word of God, but with the personified power and presence of God is impossible. After the word has been preached to them, and they have seen His miracles and acts, even to the pointing of His finger, the imagination, which is the gift of God to every believer, can make them believe causally that He will appear in the future to crown their faith. This can also happen through the fires of affliction, or from the shocks of persecution.

God will always keep a close eye on the believer’s life, so that even if it gets wet, and becomes defiled, He canomsday to cleanse it, and call back His people.

There are many believers waiting for His kingdom to come with signs following them. Even the faith hardest to believe is easy to believe, once it is believed, by no one including the father, but the son who is made to sit by the Father’s side, all the believers; the martyrs, the strong as a bull, the meek, and the peacemaker, all these will gather around the throne of God, in honor, to give an account of their faith, and to be judged in the last day.

Deuteronomy is clear about whom to consider as legitimate guides. Who you follow as your shepherd, or pastor, or mentor matters little to God. He chose Moses, and Moses represented Him in all the commands that brought the children out of Egypt.

The Bereishards, the Presidential Guard, and centurion soldiers to follow Moses and the twelve spies to a new home, were legitimate. Elisha was anointed by God to follow the one with the Brave Lion out of the wilderness. The people of Israel carried their wounded in their lap, to a place called Bethel. It was a place called homes.

There, priests and Levites with their flocks were instructed by the priestly leader, tend to their flock. It matters not if it is through the home, or pastor or church, those who tend to the flock are not beyond God’s reach. And as you tend to your flock, you are in fact, continuing what God has begun.

There is joy in the work of God, even though it is hard, the joy cannot be removed.

The joy of reaping after the seed is sown is as natural as the need to eat. The only currency in this world is joy. “He has joy even though it pains him.” (Job 3:4, KJV). The hard thing, the labor, is only the way you look. To God, it is joy. This is why leisure and pleasure are rare to the majority of people.

Your labor pains you but for the little reward of seeing the Lord your God:

I, brethren, though I walk through the dark wilderness, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. -Isaiah 41:7, KJV

That little reward, the reward little because of the drudgery of the labor, is nothing to what God gives you in return: comfort, joy, long life, health, prosperity. The labor pains you but for the little reward.

Labor pains in your life are the opportunity to sow much seed.

The ground of productivity is the earth that is prepared; the seed sown in the heart, according to the size of the ear. -Deuteronomy 10:16, KJV

oral tradition has honored God with a permanent crown of merit for labor presented to Him alone. A crown is decided by the quality of work. While the rod and staff of Moses were earthly and short-lived, the very rod and staff that an Israelite woman presented to the Lord was a crown of splendor, a necklace around the neck of the living God.

Joseph had a rod of iron, but he presented the staff of God to his brother’s wife. The proof that Joseph had received favor from God is presented by the reward he received. If Joseph presented the crown of merit to his brother’s wife, you can rest assured that the opportunity to present the staff to the Lord never arisen.