<html><head></head><body><div><div><div><div><br></div>Philippians 1;7&amp;8<div><br></div><div><b>7. &nbsp;It is right for me to feel thus about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in defense and confirmation of the gospel.</b></div><div><b>8. &nbsp;For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.</b></div><div><b><br></b></div><div>Over the course of human history, a mystical bond has been reported existing between mothers and sons,&nbsp;wives and husbands, and sometimes even sweethearts. &nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>They <i>“hold” </i>each other “i<i>n their hearts”&nbsp;</i>in such a way that,&nbsp;when a husband,&nbsp;son, or sweetheart is killed violently in battle, thousands of miles away, the wife, mother, or sweetheart, experiences at the very same moment, unexplained and profound pain in their own souls and spirits.</div><div><br></div><div>This divine&nbsp;mystical union is also being referred to by Paul when he says, <i>“how I yearn for you with the affection of Christ Jesus.” &nbsp;</i>Notice he does not say, ‘with <u>my own</u>&nbsp;affection’ but with Christ’s.</div><div><br></div><div>This <i>“participation in the divine nature” </i>(see, 2 Peter1;4) is what Paul is speaking of when he says that the Believers at Philippi are <i>“partakers <u>with me</u>&nbsp;of grace, both in my imprisonment and in defense and confirmation of the gospel.” &nbsp;&nbsp;</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div>There is a divine affection of Christ for his Bride the Church which is for us to be joined in. &nbsp;Such shared love, is not two separate loves, but the very same single love coming to us from the heart of God. &nbsp;THAT divine love empowers Paul, the Philippians,&nbsp;and also us to sacrificially, <i>“present our</i><i>&nbsp;bodies to God </i><u>a living sacrifice.”</u>&nbsp; Notice, not sacrifices plural, but <u>a singular sacrifice.</u>&nbsp; This is why Jesus in his High Priestly Prayer says, <i>“I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hasn’t sent me. &nbsp;The glory </i>(of Christ dying love from the cross) <i>I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.” &nbsp;</i>(John 17;20-22)<i></i></div><div><br></div><div>These inspired&nbsp;words of Paul and Jesus give us a true and full understanding of what the word ‘communion’ really means.</div><div><br></div><div>Prayer: &nbsp;Merciful Father, bless us to believe in Christ we are able to share in his glory,&nbsp;face death,</div><div>and in oneness,&nbsp;share in his resurrected Life. &nbsp;In Jesus we pray.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Love,</div><div>Dad/Baba/Eric</div><div>Grandpa Pickle Pastor</div><div>“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in his living Word. &nbsp;God’s Word is our habitation and we are His.”</div><div><b><br></b><br><br><div><a href="https://mail.onelink.me/107872968?pid=nativeplacement&amp;c=Global_Acquisition_YMktg_315_Internal_EmailSignature&amp;af_sub1=Acquisition&amp;af_sub2=Global_YMktg&amp;af_sub3=&amp;af_sub4=100000604&amp;af_sub5=EmailSignature__Static_" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"></a><br></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>


Philippians 1;7&8
7.  It is right for me to feel thus about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in defense and confirmation of the gospel.8.  For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
Over the course of human history, a mystical bond has been reported existing between mothers and sons, wives and husbands, and sometimes even sweethearts.  
They “hold” each other “in their hearts” in such a way that, when a husband, son, or sweetheart is killed violently in battle, thousands of miles away, the wife, mother, or sweetheart, experiences at the very same moment, unexplained and profound pain in their own souls and spirits.
This divine mystical union is also being referred to by Paul when he says, “how I yearn for you with the affection of Christ Jesus.”  Notice he does not say, ‘with my own affection’ but with Christ’s.
This “participation in the divine nature” (see, 2 Peter1;4) is what Paul is speaking of when he says that the Believers at Philippi are “partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in defense and confirmation of the gospel.”   
There is a divine affection of Christ for his Bride the Church which is for us to be joined in.  Such shared love, is not two separate loves, but the very same single love coming to us from the heart of God.  THAT divine love empowers Paul, the Philippians, and also us to sacrificially, “present our bodies to God a living sacrifice.”  Notice, not sacrifices plural, but a singular sacrifice.  This is why Jesus in his High Priestly Prayer says, “I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hasn’t sent me.  The glory (of Christ dying love from the cross) I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.”  (John 17;20-22)
These inspired words of Paul and Jesus give us a true and full understanding of what the word ‘communion’ really means.
Prayer:  Merciful Father, bless us to believe in Christ we are able to share in his glory, face death,and in oneness, share in his resurrected Life.  In Jesus we pray. 
Love,Dad/Baba/EricGrandpa Pickle Pastor“A chapter a day, every day, progressively, be transformed, ‘soak’ in his living Word.  God’s Word is our habitation and we are His.”


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