“I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. For I know thatthis will turn out for my deliverance through yourprayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,according to my earnest expectation and hope that innothing shall I be ashamed, but with all boldness, asalways, so now also Christ will be magnified in mybody, whether by life or by death. For to me, to liveis Christ, and to die is gain.”

Philippians 1: 18-21 ( NKJV )

Lord God, we thank you for the many gifts that You have so graciously given. Help each of us to use those gifts for Your glory. Help each of us to live for Christ.

Amen.

Paul wrote those verses while imprisoned, and the first time I heard "To live is Christ and to die is gain" was Jim Meeker shouting it as he leaped from the zip line platform at Peaceful Crossings. I had read the verse before, but that's the first time I really "heard" it! God gives each of us gifts, and they are all very different. Discovering and using your gifts for Christ is living your Faith. Martin Luther said, "When I consider my crosses, tribulations and temptations, I shame myself almost to death thinking of what they are in comparison to the sufferings of my blessed Savior Jesus Christ." Christ died for each of us, and for us to truly live, and to use our God-given gifts is living for Christ. In some ways, we are all imprisoned. Maybe not as Paul, within prison walls, but we build barriers and allow blockages to get between us and God. One of those blockages is that when we pray and ask God for something, we put a human time constraint on our request. If something does not get answered when we think it should, we tend to think that God didn't answer our prayer. We need to have total trust in God, and that means that things will happen in God's time. One of the most awesome moments that stands out was several summers ago, the youth went on what was called "the poor surfer's beach trip". On that trip, we had a lesson on the beach in which I asked the kids to list some of the problems they encounter in their lives. As they spoke the problems, I wrote them in the sand: peer pressure, alcohol, drugs, relationships, sin. We wrote 10 - 12 things in the sand. Then I explained that God's forgiveness is like all of our problems written in the sand. The waves were quite calm, and were not even coming close to where we were. I said that if we came back tomorrow, our slate would be totally wiped clean, there would be no evidence of what we had written. The problem is, we want action, and we want it now. Everything will be answered in God's time, not ours. Just as I said "God's time" a wave crashed around us, and wiped the slate clean. A powerful message of who was in charge that I will never forget! For each of us to live is Christ, and because Christ conquered death, to die means to be with Christ, which Paul says later in the letter to the Philippians is far better.

MIKE DUBBS