SERVICES: SATURDAY 6PM | SUNDAY 9AM & 10:45AM. 

We Livestream at www.FaithFellowshipWeb.com/livestream, through the FFC App, and YouTube.

Every Good Thing

Every Good Thing

Words of Faith 12-20-19

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2019

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

To unsubscribe follow the directions at the end of this devotion.

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

 

Philemon

[6] I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

 

       This is one of those verses that will catch your eye.  Paul prayed for Philemon that he might be active in sharing his faith. Okay, fine.  But the result is interesting.  So that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

       We might be tempted to correct Paul.  Didn’t you mean to say “so that others will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ?”  No.  Paul said exactly what he intended to say.  Even some translators struggle with this, but there is a profound truth here.

         Well, shouldn't Paul have prayed—That you might have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ so that you may be active in sharing your faith…?  Wouldn't that make more sense?  But that was not his prayer.  And that is not the way it works.

        It is as we are active in sharing our faith that we gain a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.    

        In our human nature, we tend to want it to be the other way around.  Lord, give me a full understanding of every good thing that I have in Christ, then, I will go and actively share my faith.  But this is not the way that it works.  This is not the walk of faith.  This is not what Paul prayed for in Philemon.

        Many will tell you that the most energetic growth in their lives took place when they were active in sharing our faith… before gaining a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.  Many have gone a mission trip or endeavored to help in an evangelistic effort and learned that they gained far more than they ever gave. 

         Sometimes we set out to actively share our faith thinking that we have it all together only to discover in a faraway place or through a very humbling circumstance that there is a much fuller understanding of everything that we have in Christ.  Some of the most profound lessons in the blessings and faithfulness of God are learned from people with very little materially and educationally.   

       So.  Have you been reluctant to share your faith because you don’t have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ?  The irony is that sharing what you do have, even with some uncertainty and imperfection, is the only way that you will find that more full understanding.  And… the truth is that those who appear to have it all together are just that—people who appear to have it all together. 

       The great missionary D.T. Niles once said that evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to get bread.  I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.

 

      Father God, show me how to plant the mustard seed of faith that I have into others as I share what You have done for me in Jesus.  Build my faith so that I will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.  In Jesus' Name.  

 

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an E-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an E-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org.  Or you can call the church office at 321-259-7200 x1.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -     

The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, and our website, and our church app, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.  

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><