Take time and read this Bible verse above and meditate on it. I am going to break down each verse and explain what it is saying. Paul wrote Philippians and this book is a MUST read. While Paul wrote this verse he was in chains in jail and in the worst situation. Would have joy and strength if you were chained to other prisoners? The secret in this verse is that he has LEARNED TO BE CONTENT IN WHATEVER THE CIRCUMSTANCE.
How was he able to be content? If he was cold and hungry in jail how was he still content? It is because he had the Joy of the Lord!! The bible says "The Joy of the Lord, is my Strength." Paul knew how to live FOR Christ, instead of for Himself. How many times do we live for ourselves??? How many times are we only thinking of ourselves? If I could put a percentage on it, I would say that we think about ourselves 99% of the time. We have a selfish sinful nature that dominates over us. We need to learn this lesson from Paul, and apply this to our lives. We cannot let "things" or "people" dictate whether we are content or not!! As you can see this will not happen overnight. Paul says "I have LEARNED this." When you are to learn something, it means that it is a Process and the maturity will develop over time. If you were to learn a foreign language it would take time to develop. You wouldn't wake up the next day and speak fluently. You would have to spend time studying and perfecting the material. What do we need to study so we can learn this wonderful concept? The Bible is what we study. We need to read His Word and meditate on it and let it change us from the inside. The real change happens from the inside out, and it starts with the heart. It is easy to temporarily change on the outside but within time we would slowly fade back into our old ways. For a change to stay permanent, it needs to be from the inside, and God prefers it this way. So I am going to paint a picture on how you can learn to apply this verse.
I am trying to do good and something bad happens to me. I lose my job, my car breaks down, I can't keep a relationship, etc. When things start to happen to us we cannot prevent these types of things from happening. So when things like this happen we have to remember the most important step and that is what happens after these things happen. The next step we have 100% control over. It is our thinking!! We can choose to let the situation or circumstance take over us and fill us with fear and anxiety, or we can CHOOSE to speak Gods Word and speak life. When you are a follower of Christ and obedient to His will you understand that it is not YOU who lives, but Christ who lives Through you. So this means you are here on earth for HIM and to glorify HIS name!! Now we have learned already that Jesus Christ has already overcome the ENTIRE World and he has even conquered death. We know that he is greater in us then he that is in the world. So when things start to happen we already know that Jesus overcame it already. We can rest in him and say "God I WILL not let this job loss take over me, I know you have something better for me." We can say " God I will not have anxiety about my car breaking down because you are my provider and I rest in you." We can say "God, I know you have the perfect person designed for me, and I will rest in you and in your timing and wait for when it glorifies you." So many times we want God to FULLY explain everything to us and the truth is that he doesn't need to. He is ALL KNOWING!! God created the entire world without our help, I am sure that he can handle whatever you are going through.
So when you start experiencing stress or troubles, learn how to be content NO MATTER WHAT!! Instead of focusing on what you do not have or what just happened, focus on what you DO have. When something bad happens, throw up your hands and start praising God in the middle of the storm and focus on what you do have. Here is an example below:
Something happens where it starts to steal my peace:
Throw up my hands and say:
Heavenly Father I thank you that you have overcome this already and I rest in you because you see everything and you take care of your children. I thank you for the breathe of life and for another day. I thank you that I am healthy and alive today. I thank you that my family is alive and well. I thank you for a roof over my head. I thank you for food in the fridge. I thank you for a car today. I thank you for having a job today. I thank you for water and electricity. I thank you for dying for me, so that I could come to know you and be saved. I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for my husband and my children. I thank you for our church family. I thank you for always have a plan and provision over my life.
As you can see the list can go ON and ON because he is SO Good and Every good and perfect gift comes down from HIM above.
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