Prayer meeting mar19

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Always Rejoice

Read v4!

Philippians 4:4 NIV - Anglicised

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

phi 4 4

Why wouldn’t we rejoice! So many reasons

HE’s near, v5,

He gives peace v7

He guards our hearts and minds - We are secure In Christ, saved eternally, we wont loose faith, our hearts are His.

Read v4 again.

Always rejoice

And rejoicing seems linked here with gentleness.

No need to get angry with people,

no need to get frustrated with people or situations,

No need to defend our rights,

For, The Lord Is near, he will restore us (and all things) to perfection In him,

So rejoice always.

Never Worry

God is always realistic.

He does want us to rejoice at all times but,

he knows life can be tough.

After all He lived on this earth for over 30 years, He saw friends betray him, cities reject him and was tortured and killed as an innocent man!

So what is Paul’s advice for dealing with the pressures of life?

V6+7,

Philippians 4:6–7 NIV - Anglicised

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Never be anxious/worry.

Why? Because, everything we can bring to God himself. He is always listening. He is near.

He’s listening and desiring to hear us,

He will triumph,

We need never worry.

Again- , we will have cause to worry - that’s assumed,

The point Is that we don’t need to.

Pray and trust God with It all.

Alwasys rejoice,

Never worry,

Continually, think!

V8,

Philippians 4:8 NIV - Anglicised

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Paul now tells us how to Always Rejoice and Never Worry. We are supposed to think about all the things that point us to and remind us of Jesus.

V8,

Think about all these things!

Why, because if something has these qualities, then that is something God is pleased with.

Heaven will be full of all these things, because they reflect God Himself!

If your mind is always on the Great Things God has done,

that reminds us that he is always with us,

then we can

always Rejoice and when given cause to worry, we can instead pray with rejoicing

that God Is In control.

‘Always, Rejoice’

‘Never, Worry’

‘Continually Think’ of all the things that remind you of God being with you.

Pray