Scripture Text: "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy," Philippians 1:3,4 (KJV)

Before I get too far into today's devotional, I want to mention that first verse to you as it is often thought of as just a Salutation, yet it is so much more than that. It starts out...

"Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ...."

There was a reason that the apostle Paul speaks of himself first here. I want it to be clear that he speaks of himself first not on the condition of showing superiority to Timothy in age and office and character (although an argument could be made for each of those attributes), but this word the was about to send to the church at Philippi was a word from Paul.

Paul was well known and had "established himself" as a leader of the church, and as we will see later in this study on the book of Philippians, Paul was about to send Timothy to them and wanted to commend Timothy not as a subservient to him (although a case also could be made for such a matter... ) but he commends Timothy as a "co-worker" and commends their work together as  "servants of Jesus Christ".

How awesome it is in life whether in partnership through marriage or a business relationship or even just co-workers at the office when people seek to commend their partner and seek their best interest even before their own. Our very own Ronald Reagan once said,

"There is no limit to what you can accomplish if you don't care who gets the credit."

Which brings us to our text for today...

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy," Philippians 1:3,4 (KJV)

We are facing a time so many of us refer to as a time of love (Valentines): a time when many who are married today have set their weddings and their engagements for marriage around. It is a time of Joy and a time of celebration.

Osella and I just celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary yesterday, and we thank God for every memory: and yes, even for every painful memory because it was a part of our journey together that led us to this place.

As we set in a park yesterday looking put over the little pond in front of us - a pond that we have used as a lunch-time meeting place for so many years here in Saint Joseph... it was as though a Holy hush had fallen amidst the tender falling snowflakes that we know God sent out way just to beautify our "special day" together.

As we ate our lunch there together (Crumbly burgers... Osella's favorite, really nothing more than a Maid-rite sandwich) all of sudden Osella started to cry. I about dumped my whole sandwich as I reached over to place my arms around her to ask her what was wrong.  She said, "It's just that we're both getting older and I know our time is coming when one of us will soon be with Jesus and I just couldn't bear being without you."  Well... I was so choked up I could hardly speak, but you know what I told her... our winters in life  may not be as plenteous as they once were... but we have "this" winter, and we can thank God for that. When I said that we both broke out in laughter as this has been one of the coldest and hardest winters we have faced her in Saint Joseph. Hey, I tried.

Well, what was said after all of that is private and we had a good time in the Lord together for a couple of hours all to ourselves.

One thing I can honestly say is that Osella has always sought out "my best" as I have tried to do for her. We have never regretted one day of our married life together - but WAIT! Every day hasn't been a bed of roses. Every day hasn't been a day where I have been the perfect husband and given the perfect answer to a wife seeking nothing more than an expression of my love. Everyday hasn't been a perfect union between man and wife as I have failed her so many times being a man... but I have strived and am striving for that day when my precious wife and "co-servant for Jesus Christ" will be able to say,

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you..."

You see, that's the problem with so many marriages. We need to get out of the bedrooms and learn to hold one another through the tough times. Yes, the marriage bed, undefiled, is a wonderful thing and it was God-ordained... but if that's the extent of your "love-making", you will never be satisfied as a couple.

That's one of the neat things about this ministry, God has afforded me the opportunity to speak to people from all over the WORLD on a daily basis and His WORD for you today dear sister is to "hold on" to your marriage. His WORD to you today dear brother would be to remember that you are the Priest of your home. Now, that doesn't mean that you are "the King" of your Castle because if you're a Christian, there can be only one KING in every home and that is Jesus. But you, my dear brother have the responsibility  to administer the LORDSHIP of Jesus in that home and to be His Ambassador to each and every family member. You have the responsibility to read the Bible and to pray and to administer those Godly principles in your home. You have the responsibility to go to church and to pay your tithes and here it comes my dear brother... LOVE...with all of your heart, soul and mind, that precious wife that God has given you.

So many "Christians" think that all that they need to do is to go to church and to try to "stay out of trouble" by not drinking or carousing where they shouldn't be - with whom they should be with, but there's so much more to it than that.

To be a Christian, means that we are "LIKE-CHRIST". To be a Christian means that we have patience with one another, and that we are kind to one another. To be a Christian means that we are not envious of the good things that happens for others and that when good things happen in our lives that we don't boast about it, but give the Glory to God alone. To be a Christian means that we do not insist on our own way; that we strive to not be irritable or resentful. To be a Christian means that we don't partake in sin but rejoice in the goodness of God's grace to remove even the temptation of sin, and when we are tempted to provide a way of escape, that we may be able to bear it. (Ref., 1 Cor 1:13) To be a Christian means that we bear all things put in our pathway as a Soldier of the cross, believing that he is able to save us to the uttermost. To be a Christian means that we have Hope "...that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have that strong consolation (encouragement) to hold fast to the hope set before us: a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul," which is Christ Jesus our Lord. (ref., 1 Cor. 13:4-7) (Ref. Heb 6:19)

We're going to speak more of this in our short series this week entitled "What's Love Got To DO with it?" tomorrow; but for now let's seek God for his blessing on our own relationships with our spouse, with our children and with others whom we deal with on a daily basis shall we?

Father God, You have given us the greatest example of love in the precious gift your only son Jesus. Holy is Your Name and we bless you for it today. Teach us how to love O Lord as we seek to love through you in all situations and circumstances. Sometimes it becomes so difficult to wade through the baggage of life that would weigh us down and cause our relationships to become so wounded that we feel as though we can not go on: yet your love is enough O Lord, if we will but bring it to the cross.  We do that this morning O God. We bring all of our hurts and all of those feelings that have seemingly died and we lay that at the foot of your cross today and we cry out,

"Heal us O God. Restore us O God. Make us over a new".

We lean not unto our own understanding here Father but we place our trust in You alone; for You never failed... cannot fail... will not fail. We Glorify you even now for the outcome. In Jesus' Name, Amen.