Philippians 1:18-20

"And 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. For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past. And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die."

Wow!! This is just so powerful to me in so many ways!

"And I will continue to rejoice." Paul always rejoiced, even when he was in prison!!! He rejoiced!

"For I know that as you pray for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will lead to my deliverance." Paul's faith was so great! (In people and in Jesus) He was not only confident but HE KNEW that the church was praying & JESUS WAS HELPING HIM & HE WOULD BE DELIVERED!

"For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past." Paul was always bold for something, and he was so very bold for Christ! **Lord, I pray for boldness! That I will never be embarrassed to share you with others! For you are the one who created this world, you formed every mountain, river, ocean! You designed everything and everyone.. I should never be ashamed of you, look at all that you have done for me!**

"And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die." That is a powerful sentence! I sometimes forget that life is short, we are mortal, we are born, we live for a little, we die. Our life stories are unpredictable! But God knows! & I pray he is written on everyone of my pages!

Philippians 1:15-18

"It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn't matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached wither way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice."

"It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others preach about Christ with pure motives." I am sure there are plenty of people out there doing so! It frustrated me because I thought they were misrepresenting Christ. **Lord I pray that my intentions and motives for spreading you word is always pure**

"They preach because they love me, for the know I have been appointed to defend the Good News" To see this all occurring would be amazing ! Paul had a serious calling as I think we all do! **I pray for clarity that we each find our own calling in your will**

"Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me."
I wonder how you can spread God's word with selfish ambition? Like what does that look like? The struggle Paul must of had.. In prison while there are people out there not preaching about Christ for the right reasons.

"But that doesn't matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached wither way, so I rejoice. And I will continue to rejoice." That is a very strong statement. Though their reasons are wrong, they are spreading the word and he still rejoices. **Lord, I pray that I will always rejoice, in the good times and the bad; Always rejoicing for you!**

Philippians 1:12-14

"And 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. For everyone here, including the whole palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God's message without fear."

Paul's confidence in The Lord just astounds me! Even in prison he knew that this was God's plan, and that it would bring others to him! Sometimes I wonder if something similar were to happen to me, if I would have faith like Paul! Mirroring a statement my commentary said I totally, 100% believe this: "It is also a reminder that God's idea of what is for the best is often very different from ours." How true !!!!! Sometimes I just have to give myself over to him again to work in me and continually mold me to be the woman of Christ he designed me to be!

Is my faith as bold as the church in the book of Philippians? Can I boldly shout in front of the whole world that I am his and he is mine ! At youth group one of the leaders said something that stirred in me, I changed it a little in my head! "OUR God, the one who created the mountains as easily as the wind blows, and you are ashamed of him? The ONE who created us all, and you can't tell your friends? OUR God who is a shield around us, our glory, the lifter of our head,(Psalm 3:3) and you are ashamed?!" This is a wake up call!

**Lord, I pray for boldness! I pray that I will never ever ever be ashamed or embarrassed to speak of you! Move in me, work in me and through me to others! Lord I give you my all, have your way! Your plan is perfect, reveal it to me Oh lord! You are my shield, you are my glory, you are the lifter of my head! I love you! Amen**

Philippians 1:9-11

"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 until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ- to the glory and praise of God."

Lots of good stuff in here :) This is a really convicting 3 verses for me, and Lord I pray that you show me your will in these three powerful verses that I may put them into work!

This is how I translate these verses: Lord I pray that from a love for you brings me knowledge and understanding, that I may not fall into temptation but fix my focus on you Lord until my last breath and your victorious day! May all glory go to you and not I, your humble servant! So I'm going to break it down from my translation:

Lord I pray that from a love for you : I need to stop there because this is so important to me! A LOVE FOR GOD ! No matter how many rules I obey, if I don't love God it means nothing! Loving God is your first priority! Famous phrase: Love God, Love others. Notice the order ! Love God and from that love of him, comes love and understanding for others! Not just that but I need to continually pray, not just at meals and before I go to bed, but constantly!

from a love for you brings me knowledge and understanding: From love comes these great gifts of knowledge and understanding!

That I may not fall into temptation: In our world, there is so much sin and temptation - it is crazy how sinful our world has become! But with God and a love for him, I will overcome temptations and keep pure!

But fix my focus on you: So many times I want to focus on me,me,me ! How selfish am I !? My focus should always be on God and bringing glory to him not me! Without God, I would not be sitting in my room, typing on this computer! God should be the center of everything I am!

Until my last breath and your victourious day: It reminds me I am not immortal, one day I will take my final breath, one day God is going to return to judge us all; to take over! Are you ready? I'm not! Loving God and having a relationship with him is a lifelong journey! In this journey, I grow closer to him, I love him more! I pray that with my whole being that I bring praise and glory to God, that I live my life for him!

May all glory go to you and not I, your humble servant!: I can't tell you how many times I can repeat this! ALL GLORY GO TO YOU NOT ME! I AM ONLY YOUR SERVANT! Lord use me as that servant to bring glory to you! Use me in your will!

**Lord I just pray that I will never stop praying! I thank you so much for everything! You created all this and I am sadden that not enough people will know that! I pray that your Glory will shine the brightest in my life and I pray that with every breath I take you will those to bring glory to your Beautiful, merciful, loving, caring, almighty name! Amen!**

Philippians 1:6-8

"And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. So it is right that I should feel as I do about all of you, for you have a special place in my heart. You share with me the special favor of God, both in my imprisonment and in defending and confirming the truth of the Good News. God knows how much I love you and long for you with the tender compassion of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6-8)

These couple verses reminds me of a couple of things:
1: I am no where near ready for the Lord's coming
2: My journey with Him (Christ Jesus) is a truly lifelong transformation
3: Paul's love and care for others trumps mine every time

I realize I am not a perfect person! I mess up all the time, and I make mistakes. I believe that's part of being a human with a sinful nature. There are going to be times where I just mess up over and over and over again. But I know that I have God's forgiveness and grace! Judgement day is a tough one to think about. As I was reading some verses (Joel 2:11, Amos 5:18, Zephaniah 1:14) I got intimidated and scared. This is not a good state to be in because then I doubt myself and make myself cry or something! It is a wake up call for me, a major wake up call ! God could come in an hour if he wanted. Am I ready ? The answer is no! Half of me is worried about failing and not knowing if I will make it and the other half wants to live my life first: go to college, get married, have kids etc. Well I know my main concern and focus should be on my relationship with God so this verse reminds me of that.

My journey is different with every one's! I used to get frustrated because I compared my walk with Christ with other people's, and I noticed that isn't healthy. God isn't going to say well he is farther ahead of you so don't even try! God wants me to pursue him on a day-to-day basis, and I want that too!

When I think of Paul and his compassion for others, it just takes me away! I know that I must love people more than I have been doing! It is not something just to talk about but to put into action. The commentary I have for Philippians says: Christian love does not start with feelings. It is an act of will, of deciding to cultivate the attitude that desires the best for others and this is what makes it possible to command love. Wow! What a powerful statement! It reminds me that to love someone isn't just a feeling (that comes later) but having the attitude towards them to want to put them first!

**Jesus I come to you with open arms and a open heart! I seek to know you more and to love others as much as you love me! My focus has swayed a little bit and for that, I'm sorry! My eyes should fix itself on you and your word! I pray that you mold me and help me remind myself of your place in my life as #! Amen. **

Philippians 1:2-5

"May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard until now."

I really like how the commentary I use describes grace , peace , and joy.

Grace: a free and undeserving gift of giving ; God's giving of himself in love.
How true is this! God didn't have to wake any of us this morning, he didn't have to create the world, galaxy, all of it but he did! God didn't have to send Jesus to save us! That convicts me to be so much more thankful and giving so much more glory to God! What kind of a world would this be if God just walked away? But God never left, he created us to have a choice, to love him! I am in God's grace every breath I take and I am so thankful for the grace my Heavenly Father gives me.

Peace: the state of mind that flows from knowing God.
That one is hard for me to grasp. I think of peace as quietness, calmness like when I'm laying down listening to the rain or something. But peace is trusting and knowing that God will never leave, that he will provide for me in times of happiness and times of troubles! Peace is knowing that my life is dependent on God, his love, grace, and promises!

Joy: based on our relationship with God, is the confidence that God can turn defeat into victory, and death into life.
Joy isn't just a feeling I have when something good happens in hand with happiness, but Joy is knowing though I have failed God will use that to turn into a success either.. i don't know how to explain it but in a example: When I tried to bring a friend to Christ, and they rejected it. The failure turns into a success because I didn't get discouraged, I continued to lift them in prayer and try again. To me, it was a success in my mind because I introduced them to God, and pray that God will work in them. I continue to show them God's love in my actions and hope that they will turn to him.

In these couple of verses, I am convicted by my prayer life. (v. 3-5) "Every time I think of you, I give thanks to my God. Whenever I pray, I make my requests of you with joy, for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard until now." I do not pray nearly as much as I need to. I need to immerse myself in prayer, and pray often and pray for the people in my life, and how I may either bring them to God or continue to love them as Jesus loves others.

**Lord, I am just so in love with this book of Philippians already. Thank you for your word! Thank you for opening my eyes to true grace, peace, and joy! I pray that I will never forget what your grace is, and be thankful for everything and everyone in my life! I pray for true peace and joy. I humble myself before you and you know what is on my heart. I pray that my journey with you brings hours and hours and hours of prayers and that I pray as much as I speak! Thank you again for your grace, the ability to have peace and joy! Amen**

Philippians 1:1

Well for some reason it will not let me comment on the very awesome blog: HisWords,MyThoughts so I guess I will take it to my own blog.

PHILIPPIANS 1:1
"This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God's holy people in Phillippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the elders and deacons."

As mentioned in the HisWords,MyThoughts blog, holy people (saints) were set apart for God. That just amazes me! Not the fact that I can call myself a saint, but that God set me, little 'ol Dana,apart! I am a child of God! There is so much more than just being set apart for God, it isn't just a title that I can put on my college application letter. GOD CHOSE ME TO BE ONE OF HIS MANY CHILDREN! I am a part of a family that loves, forgives, and accepts me for who I am. I have heard this phrase over and over, and it is starting to stick with me. ~Iron sharpens iron~ and when I think I can do this all on my own, i realize I am nothing without Christ, I am nothing without my family, and I am nothing without community! In this environment of people, I am brought closer to God. I think this was Paul and Timothy's aim: to bring people to Christ and strengthen their faith and love for others.

Paul also really amazes me! He truly lived by: love God, love others. To write so many letters, spend so much time praying, visiting, and loving them with so much passion! It reminds me that God had a plan for him before he was even born. He knew the events to come, and chose to appear at that specific time in Paul's(then Saul's) life! The changes you see in Paul- how he went from working against God's people to preaching God's word, and bringing so many to Jesus!(Acts 9:1-31)It's comforting to know that God has a plan for me. I need to love and trust him with all of my heart, soul, and mind! I also need to love people more! On a radio show a woman said: Love is a death.. a death of self! I need to love people selflessly and not what I can gain from it! I think Paul mastered this himself and I aim to follow in not only his steps, but Christ's steps as well.

**Lord I pray that I will follow in the steps of your son, Jesus, to Love others selflessly. It is a struggle in a world that is all focused on what I can get for myself and not what I can do for others. I thank you so much for Paul and his story! What encouragement that brings me! Continue to change and mold me, Lord, to be the woman of Christ you planned and designed for me to be. In your name we give all glory to, Amen!**