NIPTO, Day 318

*yawn*
I'm tired. But I got almost all of my Christmas shopping done! So that's good.
I got up today and got ready... ate breakfast... drove to Play It Again Sports with Dad to get a new exercise bike, came home, ate lunch, went to Kohl's, Wal-mart, Deals, and Target. And got all of my Christmas shopping done. Thennn once we got home I took The Princess Bride and Pride&Prejudice down to Kaytee. She got her wisdom teeth out and I thought she needed some awesome movies. Came home. Read blogs. Watched this video. And now I'm bloggoroggoring.

Philippians 4:14-20

¹⁴ Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. ¹⁵ Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; ¹⁶ for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need.

So. Even though Paul had learned to be content in whatever circumstance he was in and didn't really require sharing of troubles, he was still grateful that they did. When Paul was just starting out, he was pretty much alone. No one shared his troubles with him except for the Philippian church. They sent him what he needed when he needed it. Support. Nice. :)

¹⁷ Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. ¹⁸ I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

Paul didn't necessarily want their gifts... he wanted more to be credited to them. Paul got more than enough of his "payment" and had enough. The gifts that Epaphroditus sent were seen as an offering to God. A fragrant sacrifice.

¹⁹ And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

This (and the next section) is really all we need to remember: Follow God and he will meet and, I'm sure, exceed your needs and expectations. Why? Because it's for his glory. 

 ²⁰ To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

This is the second thing: All glory goes to God. No matter what. For ever and ever. A-men!

There's a little bit more of Philippians that I'm saving for tomorrow. Then on Christmas eve and Christmas, I'm going to be posting (but not blogging about) the Christmas story. I'm thinking Luke for one day, and Matthew and Isaiah for the other... maybe some Micah too! We'll see.
I'm out!