There are a lot of scary things going on right now in the world. What should we be afraid of? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage means that instead of obeying fear, we will live by faith. There will be times in our lives where all we have to go on is God's word. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you will go through some horrifying things. If you don't follow Jesus, you should be terrified, for there is no hope for you. Are you ready to meet Jesus?
In the conclusion of Paul's letter to the Philippians, even while in prison, Paul tells believers to rejoice. We need to be content, whatever our situation is. If we have plenty or even if we don't have much, we can be generous. Rejoicing, contentment, and generosity, come from within, not our circumstances. In every circumstance, God is in control and no matter what happens around us, we need to remember that the Lord will take care of us. In Jesus, we find everything we need.
We stand firm in the Lord by realizing that God is in control and He will take care of us. Our confidence needs to be in the Lord alone. While we are living this life, we need to cast off anything that does not follow God's plan. The Bible does not say, do not feel anxious, it says, do not be anxious. Likewise, the Bible does not say, do not feel fear, it says, do not be afraid. We can always find a reason to rejoice. If people imitate us, what will they be doing? We need to imitate the good things that we see others doing.
We are all called to be champions for Christ. Paul speaks the word of God and if someone does not agree with him about the scriptures, he says that God will show the person the truth. If we want to know the truth, we should ask God and He will reveal the truth to us. God gives direction to those committed to doing whatever God says. Once God shows us something, we need to obey and do anything that He says. God's word is to be our guide. We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. The earth is not our mother, God is our Creator and one day we all will stand before Him. Those in Christ Jesus eagerly await His return. God will one day make His children more glorious than we have ever been. God is not against us, instead He is rich in mercy and He chose to save us.
In times of difficulty, instead of just thinking positive thoughts, we should be praising God in the midst of our tribulations. Nothing compares to the greatness of knowing Christ. We are all sinners and we all deserve God's wrath. If we do good works in order to make us acceptable to God, those good works are rubbish. Rather, we should do good works because we love and obey God.
When Paul's assistant, Epaphroditus, became ill, Paul said Epaphroditus' death would have been sorrow upon sorrow. Sometimes, God lets people get sick and stay sick for a long time. Sometimes God miraculously heals people from their sickness. When we go through hardship, it can be a result of Satan, however, God is always in control. God will allow sickness and hardship if it brings us or others into a right relationship with Himself. Our bodies are amazing and one thing we realize is that sin has entered the world and death is upon us. Sometimes God uses our sickness so that other people can be a blessing to us. Though Epaphroditus was not and evangelist, but only serving and evangelist, he almost died serving Christ. Epaphroditus was in the will of God and still got sick. We should be like Timothy and fulfill the needs of others and we should appreciate someone who genuinely cares about us.
God's word says that if we are His child, we are united with Christ. That should excite us! We should consider others better than ourselves. God is love and His love cannot be earned. Our attitudes should be the same as Christ Jesus. Jesus is God. God became a man so that He could die and save us. We are changed from the inside out. We need to find our identity in Christ.
The message of the Gospel is true, no matter who preaches it. God does not change. If we believe the gospel is true, we will be changed, if we don't believe the gospel is true we will regret it. There is nothing on Earth that can compare to the joys of Heaven. The reason why God's children are here is for the spread of the gospel. There is hope and Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Jesus will give us brand new lives. Suffering for Jesus is a privilege and gift. God is not the author of sin and God is in total control. In the midst of persecution, we don't need to enjoy it, but we should rejoice in the Lord.