Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. (Philippians 1:20 MSG) Our passage today comes after Paul was placed in prison, held for preaching the gospel message. He had such hope of his release, eventual continuation of his apostolic journeys, and the continued establishment of new churches throughout the then known world. He never got out of prison, though. His circumstances did not change, yet he continued to do what God called him to do, regardless of how his life seemed to be changing for what others may have seen as the worst possible thing. Even in his imprisoned state, whether in a jail cell or under some form of Roman house arrest, he continued to do what God put on his heart. It is indeed a good thing to fulfill what God beckons us to do - to have hope that the mission he has called us to perform will continue even when the circumstances seem to be pointing us in a different ...
Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10 NLT) Fear is frequently based in either the past (what we have done or what has been done to us), or it is based in the future (what is about to happen to us or what has to still be done). We rarely remain in the present in our thinking. Whenever we go back to the past failures, we get down on ourselves and see ourselves as having no way of escape - it is like we believe what is about to happen is inevitable. Whenever we focus entirely on the future, we find ourselves being overcome with the anxiety of 'not knowing'. The 'what ifs' of the future can be as daunting as living with our past failures - either one of these scenarios will give us anxiety and might even hold us paralyzed by their overwhelming emotions. Remaining current is important - we should ask God what he wants from us TODAY. It...