Philippians Archives - Marissa Henley

You Can Do Hard Things {No Matter What Monday}

June 26, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

The year was 1983. I sat in Mrs. Miller’s first grade classroom, facing an overwhelming task. With little six-year-old fingers, I painstakingly cut out 72 construction paper candles to assemble a birthday cake for President Reagan. It’s the first difficult assignment I remember having as a child, and it wouldn’t be the last.

Now we face grown-up challenges, don’t we? We struggle with our relationships, our work, our health, our finances, and our private wrestling with temptation, unbelief, fear, and doubt. God often gives us difficult assignments as we live as lights for Him in a world filled with sin, brokenness, and pain. But He does not leave us on our own.

In Philippians 4, Paul recalled hardships he faced as he carried out his assignment from the Lord. He was hungry and needy, and he suffered in humiliating circumstances. And yet, he found the secret to being content in these struggles. He wrote, “I can do all things through [the Lord] who strengthens me.”

You can do hard things. You can complete the difficult tasks God gives you. You can walk through a challenging relationship, career, illness, financial situation, or temptation and emerge on the other side looking more like Jesus.

Not because you’re amazing, but because your Heavenly Father is.

Not because you’re strong, but because He gives you strength.

Not because you look inside yourself and find the resources you need, but because the Spirit of God lives inside you.

You can do hard things because the Lord is strong and mighty, and He is with you in your struggles.

No matter what you face this week, you can do everything the Lord asks of you because of His strength.

Our Suffering Advances the Gospel {No Matter What Monday}

February 6, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

Have you ever wondered if there was a purpose to your pain? Knowing there’s a purpose behind our difficult circumstances doesn’t take away the sting of suffering, but it can give us a glimmer of encouragement and help us persevere.

This month, we’re looking at God’s purpose in suffering. Our goal isn’t to wrap up suffering in a neat package with a bow. There’s nothing pretty about pain. But in God’s kind sovereignty, He brings beauty from brokenness as He weaves our trials into the tapestry of His purposes.

In Philippians, Paul addresses friends who were upset about his imprisonment. These friends feared Paul’s imprisonment would end his travel and preaching. They may have worried that the entire Christian movement would fizzle out and die. But Paul reassured them that the gospel continued to go forth:

“I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” (Philippians 1:12-14)

Your suffering may look differently from Paul’s, but God will use it to advance the gospel. Maybe your suffering is private. No one else even knows. But as you grow in dependence on the Lord, you’re advancing the gospel in your own heart. If your suffering is known by your family or a small circle of friends, they can watch you run to the Lord with your pain and be encouraged to trust Him more.

Whether you’re encouraging thousands with your story or quietly walking in obedience each day, rest assured that in God’s economy, no suffering is wasted. Your trials are advancing the good news of God’s faithfulness, mercy, and grace.

No matter what we face this week, our suffering advances the gospel.

Our Citizenship is in Heaven {No Matter What Monday}

January 23, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

“Where are you from?”

During the first year my husband and I lived in Indianapolis, I heard this question more than any other. It often came up even if my new acquaintance didn’t know I’d moved recently. After 24 years of living in the South, my accent sounded strange in the Midwest. There was no hiding the fact that I was a transplant—my Southern accent gave me away instantly. I wasn’t a Midwesterner. I was from somewhere different.

If you are in Christ, you should stick out in this world just like a Southern girl saying “y’all” in Indiana. You aren’t from around here. At your core, you’re not an Arkansan or a Texan or a Hoosier or even an American. Even though you’re residing on Earth, you’re a Heavener. (I think I just made up a word!) Your citizenship is in heaven, because your life is hidden with Christ, and that’s where He is (see Colossians 3:3).

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

Because you’re a Heavener, you have something wonderful to look forward to. Remember how Jesus gave up His glorious existence with the Father to take on a breakable human body? The opposite will be true of you someday. You will trade your broken, frail body for a glorious body like His. And you will watch as your Savior returns to show His authority and victory over all.

No matter what you face this week, our citizenship is in Heaven.

Christ Jesus Lived and Died for You {No Matter What Monday}

January 9, 2017 by Marissa Leave a Comment

Last week we saw that Jesus gave up the perfection of Heaven to rescue us (Philippians 2:5-7). In the following verse, we learn He didn’t just trade Heaven for Earth. He traded glory for a gruesome execution.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8)

Jesus “humbled Himself by becoming obedient.” He was the only sinless man who has walked this earth. His perfect obedience qualified Him to take your place on the cross. As the only one undeserving of God’s punishment, He became a substitute for you when God poured out His wrath on Him. Jesus lived the perfect life that you cannot live.

Jesus “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” In the first-century Roman empire, crucifixion was regarded as the worst form of execution. The shame of hanging naked in public was nothing compared to the excruciating pain of bones breaking and slow suffocation. This painful, shameful death was reserved for the most heinous criminals.

Jesus humbled Himself for you. There was no other way to save you. You could not save yourself by good works, and you could not meet God’s standard of righteousness. Because of His great love for you, Jesus left the glory of Heaven, lived a perfect life, died an agonizing death, and experienced the wrath of the Father.

Because of His sacrifice, even though you live an imperfect life, you can one day taste the glory that Jesus left behind.

No matter what you face this week, Christ Jesus lived and died for you.