How are you to react towards your lot in life these days?
What is the God honoring attitude that we are to maintain to please God?
In this lesson we will learn that contentment in all circumstances is the right thing to have if we desire to be pleasing to the Lord.
Many times we are tempted to complain and be discouraged about what has happened to us.
But is this the right attitude?
Read on and recalibrate yourself to God's wonderful Word.
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The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.
Philippians 4:9.
I do not believe it is possible to really learn from words alone.
You must also hear and see what you are learning.
Likewise, this walk with God must be seen in action.
People must be able to see what a New Testament Church is like, and what it is like to move in the Lord.
This is what Paul is saying.
He exhorted the Philippians not to worry and be anxious, but to learn instead to simply set their minds on the Lord, and that which is true and positive.
Many people feel that they are cheerful, positive thinkers, but they are not.
They will have to see real joy in action before they are aware of how they have fallen short.
But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.
Not that I speak from want ( or according to want ) ; for I have learned to be content ( the literal meaning is "self-sufficient") in whatever circumstances I am.
I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
I can do all things through Him ( the literal translation is "in Him" ) who strengthens me.
Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. And you yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs.
Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full, and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.
The brethren who are with me greet you.
All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Philippians 4:10-23.
On the surface this may seem like a beautiful little thank-You note at the end of an epistle, but this is an apostolic word in the Scriptures which unveils principles to us.
Paul is showing us a very basic truth about contentment.
We are now going through a national and international recession.
There are over thirty nations on a starvation level without adequate food supplies or any prospect of attaining them.
Hundreds of thousands of people will die this year.
A famine has been openly predicted for this year and the year to follow.
We know what it is in America to have plenty.
But here in the bread-basket of the world, through calculated circumstances our surplus has been stripped and we are now left with all probability of hunger.
We shall be in need, and this is all the more reason why we should make haste to raise gardens and store grain.
Even if the food we buy s grown locally, there will be labor strikes of a sufficient magnitude that we shall not be able to obtain it.
however, with anointed planning by all the churches we shall not be affected by the famine around us.
We shall have bread to share because we are going to be wise in what we do.
The stock market will not show any profit for some time to come. If you have money, put it where it can be a blessing to the Body in the days ahead.
Put your money into the Kingdom of God.
Get ready to stand up for your brothers and sisters and feed them when they are hungry.
Get yourself out of the self-centered rut because there is no way that you will have abundance except through the Lord.
The Philippians freely gave to Paul in his time of need.
He also received gifts from Epaphroditus, an apostle to Philippi and Thessalonica ( Philippians 2:25 ).
Notice Paul's motivation: "I did not speak from want, but I seek the profit which increases to your account.
My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus."
By helping Paul in his need, the Philippians were building up for themselves an account in grace.
There was a promise that God would take care of them.
When they had a need, their need would be supplied.
In Paul's epistle to the Corinthians, he said that they gave beyond their ability, what they could not even afford to give.
Yet, this is the people with the promise that God would supply every one of their needs.
Your security is in generosity of your spirit.
It will be given to you heaped up, shaken down, and running over ( Luke 6:38 ).
He that soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully.
He that soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly ( II Corinthians 9:6 ).
You cannot give with a half-halfheartedness; you have to give with your whole heart.
Among the New Testament churches, one of the main sources of giving, which will be greatly revived in these days of restoration, was hospitality and dealing with the needy saints.
Offerings were constantly taken up for the saints in need.
All the churches were one big family although many were involved, and some of them with vicious prejudices against each other.
Imagine the Greek Gentiles in Macedonia taking up offerings for the Christian Jews in Jerusalem, especially when the christian Jews in Jerusalem tended to be slightly snobbish.
The big family of God gave to all their poor people so that there was no lack.
When this beautiful spirit of giving gets a hold of you, you will stand by each other, and it will become such a way of life to you that you will not be blowing any horns or wanting any credit; it will be something that you do unto the Lord, and it will be a joy to your heart.
Giving in the house of the Lord sometimes relates directly to the publishing and sending forth of the Word, but when we give to Christ in our brother, we are also giving directly, Jesus said," Inasmuch as you do it unto me" ( Matthew 25: 40 ).
He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord, and the Lord will repay him (Proverbs 19:17).
This is a promissory note that God has committed to us. He will see that we are repaid, because we have opened our hearts to deal to the poor.
It is beautiful to give to little children.
It is a tremendous blessing to teach a little child to be generous, by being generous with him.
You show him how to give, because you know that inasmuch as you do it unto the least of his members, you have done it unto Christ; it is like a direct contact.
The Lord takes these things very personally.
If you do not do this, one day the Lord will say, "When I was hungry, you did not feed Me, I was naked, and you did not clothe Me.
I was in prison, and you did not visit Me.
Inasmuch as you did not do it unto one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me ( Matthew 25:42-45).
Always keep your heart open.
It is never a matter of whether you can afford to give.
If you follow the Scripture correctly, you will see that you cannot afford not to give.
You cannot afford to fail to open up the channel of supply to your own spirit.
Next to worry, discontentment is one of the greatest evidences of unbelief there is.
We say that we are believers, but there is still murmuring and complaining, which God also takes quite personally.
God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, but in the wilderness they murmured.
They continued in that spirit of murmuring for awhile, but then the Lord began to judge them.
The fire of the Lord was kindled against them because they were murmuring and complaining.
Murmuring is a focus upon circumstances with a Satanic interpretation of them.
Satan will always point at certain things to give you a dim viewpoint.
This viewpoint of unbelief then becomes a direct rebellion against the Lord.
It may not be a rebellion in actions, although it may lead to that, but in it's thought it is a rejection of His providence and His provision for you.
It is a belief in disaster.
Satan can almost make you believe in disaster, and the murmuring heart gives way to disaster.
Murmuring brings upon you things even worse than you could foresee or imagine.
It is a negative kind of faith.
When true faith focuses on circumstances, it interprets them according to God's Word.
That is the difference between faith and murmuring.
The man of faith is standing upon God's Word, and he can only interpret his whole life according to God's Word.
A heart filled with murmuring is discarding the foundation of God's Word and is based entirely upon the fears and the innuendos that Satan would plant.
It interprets things from an entirely different viewpoint.
Paul said, "I am content ( or self-sufficient )."
He was really saying, "I can handle anything.
I know how to get along with humble means; I know also how to live in prosperity. I can handle anything that God orders in my step."
Our spirits may find real difficulty in coping with both poverty and prosperity.
These are the conditions which get into a person's spirit and destroy him.
Good intelligent people may appear to have their feet on the ground, when they are brought into an extremity of circumstances with nothing but poverty in their lives, we see what really was in their spirits.
Was it faith?
Or was it discontentment and murmuring?
How should we respond when God suddenly blesses?
The prophecies speak of the wealth of the world flowing to Zion ( Isaiah 61:6 ).
I have been asking God to prepare me for it, and I believe He has.
Everything that God has put into my hands I have channeled toward the blessing of the Body.
Anything I owned which was not a blessing to the Body I gave away, because I did not want to be encumbered with it.
God is testing us to see whether we shall be found faithful.
Are we really dedicated to see the Kingdom of God come forth?
If we seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness, the other things will be added to us ( Matthew 6:33 ).
If we really believe his, we will seek the Kingdom with all of our hearts, regardless of how many times we have been disillusioned.
The enemy will come against us at every step, and we must realize that we are in the battle of the ages.
We should not go into the battlefield with a gun and not expect to be fired at.
We are embarking upon the most serious mission in the world, and that is seeing principalities and powers of Satan brought down.
We are regaining the territory which they have controlled in people's lives.
There is nothing in the world as beautiful as this walk with God.
When Paul said that he had learned to be content, he was not referring to a passive contentment, or a simple lac of grumbling; it was the ability to handle anything which God had ordered for his life.
When you do not murmur and complain about having nothing, neither will you be spoiled by having everything.
God is looking for people He can trust.
He wants people that will really trust Him.
If you become greedy, you are doing it because you cannot trust Him.
God may send you out to preach the gospel of the Kingdom without any credit cards, traveler's checks, or money in your purse.
God is seeking discipleship that will wholly trust Him and be able to handle any circumstance that could come along, and believe that He will take care of it.
We are going to trust the Lord with all our hearts and lean not to our own understanding.
In all our ways we shall acknowledge Him, and He will direct our paths ( Proverbs 3:5,6 ) .
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