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\nPhilippians 4:12.\u00a0 <\/span>I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,\u00a0whether living in plenty or in want.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>2 Corinthians 6:4-10<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,\u00a0\u00a0beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;\u00a0\u00a0by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love;\u00a0\u00a0by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;\u00a0\u00a0through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;\u00a0\u00a0as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed;\u00a0\u00a0as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>2 Corinthians 12:7-10<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Isaiah 8:11<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Jeremiah 31:19<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0For after I had turned away, I relented, and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh; I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>Matthew 11:29<\/b><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
It is a special grace to have an equal temper of mind always. And in a low state not to lose our comfort in God, nor distrust his providence, nor take any wrong course for our own supply. In a prosperous condition not to be proud, or secure, or worldly. This is a harder lesson than the other; for the temptations of fulness and prosperity are more than those of affliction and want. The apostle had no design to urge them to give more, but to encourage such kindness as will meet a glorious reward hereafter. Through Christ we have grace to do what is good, and through him we must expect the reward; and as we have all things by him, let us do all things for him, and to his glory. (Henry)<\/p>\n
Now, it is in these sudden reverses that grace is most needed, and in these rapid changes of life that it is most difficult to learn the lessons of calm contentment. People get accustomed to an even tenor of life, no matter what it is, and learn to shape their temper and their calculations according to it. But these lessons of philosophy vanish when they pass suddenly from one extreme to another, and find their condition in life suddenly changed. The garment that was adapted to weather of an uniform temperature, whether of heat or cold, fails to be suited to our needs when these transitions rapidly succeed each other. Such changes are constantly occurring in life. God tries his people, not by a steady course of prosperity, or by long-continued and uniform adversity, but by transition from the one to the other; and it often happens that the grace which would have been sufficient for either continued prosperity or adversity, would fail in the transition from the one to the other. (Barnes)<\/p>\n
I know both how to be abased,…. Or “humbled”; to be treated with indignity and contempt, to be trampled upon by man, to suffer hardships and distress, to be in a very mean and low condition, to work with his own hands, and minister to his own and the necessities of others in that way; yea, to be in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, and have no certain dwelling place; and he knew how to behave under all this; not to be depressed and cast down, or to fret, repine, and murmur: \u00a0I know how to abound; or “to excel”; to be in the esteem of men, and to have an affluence of the things of this world, and how to behave in the midst of plenty; so as not to be lifted up, to be proud and haughty, and injurious to fellow creatures; so as not to abuse the good things of life; and so as to use them to the honour of God, the interest of religion, and the good of fellow creatures, and fellow Christians: (Gill)<\/p>\n
\u201cSee here the state to which God permitted his chief apostle to be reduced! And see how powerfully the grace of Christ supported him under the whole! How few of those who are called Christian ministers or Christian men have learned this important lesson! When want or affliction comes, their complaints are loud and frequent; and they are soon at the end of their patience.\u201d (Clarke)<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, many people take this verse out of context and use it to reinforce a \u201ctriumphalist\u201d or \u201csuper-Christian\u201d mentality, instead of seeing that the strength of Jesus in Paul\u2019s life was evident in his ability\u00a0to be content<\/b>\u00a0when he did\u00a0suffer need<\/b>.<\/p>\n
ii. We must always also put this precious statement of faith in connection with\u00a0John 15:5<\/span><\/a>:\u00a0for without Me you can do nothing. With Jesus we can do all things, without Him we can\u2019t do anything. (Guzik)<\/p>\n
There are numerous verses proclaiming and declaring God will and does supply for our needs. Sometimes our idea of \u201cneeds\u201d exceeds what is needed. Likewise our idea of \u201cprosperity\u201d exceeds what is prosperous. These are all in reference to our physical state in this world. Learning contentment is a continual process and if we are lacking or void of desire for God\u2019s Word there is little hope of growing in this mystery from God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
On the spiritual side, too often, I fear we are to content with our Christian walk. We are content with our current knowledge and understanding of the holiness of God, His grace, mercy, and love, and His Word. Desiring, seeking, and wanting to know how to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all of our thoughts, words, and actions does require an intentional choice in how we think, how we speak, and how we act. We should never be content with our current knowledge and understanding of God\u2019s Word and its application in our (lives) hearts, minds, and souls. There is much in this world to chase after, but little to none of it is beneficial to us. It disguises itself in a cloak of being busy as a means to make us content with our intentional choice of chasing after it rather than desiring wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and application in and of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Do not confuse physical contentment in plenty and want (which is good) with spiritual contentment. It is bad that we should ever be spiritually content with our current knowledge, understanding, or application of God\u2019s Word.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Philippians 4:12.\u00a0 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,\u00a0whether living in plenty or in want. \u00a02 Corinthians 6:4-10\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0but as servants of God we commend … Continue reading “59. e. Philippians 4:12”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195185"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195187,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195185\/revisions\/195187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}