Php 4:1-23 (NLT)
1 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stay true to the Lord. I love you and long to see you, dear friends, for you are my joy and the crown I receive for my work.
2 Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement.
3 And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.
4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!
5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.
10 How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me.
11 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.
12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.
13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
14 Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty.
15 As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this.
16 Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once.
17 I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness.
18 At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God.
19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
20 Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen.
21 Give my greetings to each of God’s holy people—all who belong to Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send you their greetings.
22 And all the rest of God’s people send you greetings, too, especially those in Caesar’s household.
23 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Our joy, our peace, and our strength to do whatever is before us doesn’t follow after random visitations from God that are followed after. There has already been a visitation from God in the Holy Spirit that is living on the inside. Now, it is just learning to shift the focus from the unproductive circumstances and conditions that surround to the resident presence of the Lord, His image, and His promises. This can totally replace random, wavering emotions with the inevitable fruit that comes from the fulness of the Spirit. As great as the Glory of the Lord is on the inside, if He never is acknowledged while all those other things get the attention, the grace that only comes from Him to be grounded in peace and bold in strength will never be discovered and activated for His glory. All things are possible in Him, but only when He is acknowledged and acted on. There is no need for another move on God’s part. The needed moved is our part, thinking only only on things that are above, losing anxiety in the simple turning to His ever-presence in prayer, and intentionally rejoicing in the victory that is already ours in Christ. Though it is wonderful to be blessed in the supply that should come from the body around us, the true source of our encouragement and supply never ceases when our abiding is in the Vine, the life of Christ inside. What we have to do will never be limited by a list of natural provisions or following of people. With or without, we can do all things according to our unlimited resource in Christ.
As great as this truth is, its realization is on the other side of a much-ingrained pattern of emotions and responses that are based on the conditions around us. While challenges and lack naturally imply the need for something else to arrive or move, in Christ that arrival and movement has already occurred. It just needs to be acknowledged and activated. The very power that created the universe and raised Christ from the grave is resident on the inside, ready to supply more than what is imagined, reveal the greatest wisdom, and strengthen with unlimited energy. The only change – turning from the brief conditions to the eternal ones in Him. The visitation has come to remain.