Seven times Paul speaks of God in a deeply personal way. It was from the lips of the Saviour Himself that such a revelation came: “My God and your God.” Like the sunshine, I can enjoy this relationship all myself, basking in His undivided attention.
1. “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Rom. 1:8). The apostle does not give thanks for their knowledge, or position, or riches, but for their faith. How appropriate this is to the epistle to the Roman church, where faith is emphasized in opposition to works, and believing and grace in contrast to law. So faith ought to characterize the believer. We are to walk in the footsteps of Abraham, whose life was brilliant with faith, remembering that faith has to do with the living Word, and the living word brings us to the living Christ.
2. “I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:4). If faith is appropriate to the Roman church, so is grace to the Corinthian, for the saints there had fallen into grievous sin. Thus it behoves us to see that the doctrines of God in all their preciousness should go hand in hand with a holy, separated life. Let us beware of a mere intellectual reception of truth, and not bringing it out daily in a Christlike walk. Paul wrote to the Philippian church, “only let your life be such as becometh the Gospel.”
3. “I thank my God I speak with tongues more than ye all” (1 Cor. 14:18). Yes, but let us read the next verse, where he minimizes this gift of God, “yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.” “Tongues are for a sign to them that believe not,” and such signs are not needed now, but what is needed is a deep humility, and a walk in all lowliness and meekness.
4. “And lest when I come again my God will humble me among you” (2 Cor. 12: 21). Paul’s burning zeal for his converts and for their “worthy walk,” when he heard of the grievous sin breaking out at Corinth, made him tremble in anticipated humiliation lest anything in his walk or words should have tended to loosen the bonds of a holy life. If they mourned, he mourned, if they were humiliated so was he. “If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.”
5. “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you” (Phil. 1:3). How could Paul forget his memorable visit to Philippi. The prayer meeting by the side of the rippling river. The haling before the magistrates, the earthquake in jail, the bleeding backs of himself and his companion, the singing praises at midnight, the conversion of the jailer, and many other causes of joy filled the heart of the apostle with thanksgiving as he wrote the joyous, happy epistle of experience to the saints at Philippi. Let us ever praise God for the fruits of His own grace springing up in the hearts of the Lord’s people.
6. “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:18). What a precious text we have here. Every word sparkles like a gem. The word for “supply” really means to fill full. He shall fill up to the full all your not wants, for we may want things not good for us, but all your need, and the measure of it is not a mere dole, not a “snippet,” but according to his riches in glory, inexhaustible, unending, and the channel is our gracious Lord and Master. Praise God for such a blank check.
7. “I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers” (Philemon 1:4). And what does he thank God for? For his love and faith toward the Lord Jesus, and towards all saints. Can anyone thank our God for the love and faith we have to our Lord and all the saints? Oh, that we may have this real, warm love to our loving Lord and this faith which works by love, that with Paul we may say “to me to live is Christ,” and may our life be a reproduction of Christ in all His attractive grace and beauty.
He is the God of the stars, God of the ages, God of the nations . . . but He is my God too!