He Gives Me Strength

I hope you were encouraged by that passage. That no matter what it is that we face, God is working and He has good planned - not our version of good, but His good!

This week we are going to take a look at another popular verse in scripture and look at the context for this verse so we can properly use it. Turn with me to Philippians 4.

Philippians 4:4–14 NIV

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 every situation, 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 and sisters, 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. 10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 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, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. 14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

Most translations say:

Philippians 4:13 NKJV

13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I think that in English, the first way is better.

Philippians 4:13 NIV

13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

The words all this provide the proper context for what Paul is saying. If we read just this verse, we should wonder…what does it mean “all this”? What is this? If you say I’ll take this one without the proper context, no one will know what you mean.

Before we get into the context, I want to point out what a great declaration this is from Paul. This is not a boasting in himself though, it is a boasting in the strength of the Lord in his life. He came to the place where he understood that the strength to endure is not a matter of self will, but is a matter of the Lord’s strength in us. Let’s take it from verse 4 and look at the context...

Philippians 4:4 NIV

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

This is one of the guiding verses of this church. We want to be a church that rejoices. That partly happens in our worship, in our singing, but also happens in how we talk about what God is doing and has done in our lives. It is something we should do always. This concept of rejoicing, or finding joy and expressing it is so important that Paul mentions it twice. Don’t lose sight of this verse as we approach verse 13. Rejoicing is part of verse 13.

Philippians 4:5 NIV

5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Paul is telling us here to be gentle in the world. So much so that our gentleness is evident - it can be easily seen, but this is not to appease the world, we are to be gentle because the Lord is near. Our actions are not to please others - it is to give glory to God. One of the most godly men I know is gentle. It’s not that he is soft or weak, he is gentle. There is a difference. I’ve played sports with him and he’ll bump you and be rough in the game, but he has such a gentle spirit about him. Being gentle should be evident.

Philippians 4:6 NIV

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Here we have another verse about how we are to be in any situation - not anxious! We are to pray with thanksgiving, not grumbling. Another word for anxious is worry. We like to worry about things don’t we…We get a test at the doctor’s and that test is pointing to something else, so they want to run another test and then they want to run another, then another and before you know it you might as well have gotten a full body MRI and bone scan because they don’t have a clue what is going on. Meanwhile, we go to WebMD, plug in our symptoms and with our internet doctorate, we come to the conclusion we are going to die tomorrow. Worry!

This kind of worry and anxiety is not what God has in mind for us. When He tells us to not be anxious about anything, he means it. We are to come to Him in every situation, Big and small. Can’t open a can of pickles, pray. Facing a medical issue that is serious, pray. Pray with thanksgiving and know that God’s got this!

So far we are to Rejoice always, be gentle and not be anxious...

Philippians 4:7 NIV

7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The result of these is the peace of God - that we can’t grasp or fully understand will over come us and guard our hearts and minds. The world doesn’t understand this peace. It is one of the comments I hear most - how can you be so calm with all of this going on around you…A little foreshadow… “I can handle all of this through him who gives me strength.”

Let’s keep reading...

Philippians 4:8–9 NIV

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, 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.

Here Paul tells us what to focus our minds on. When all we see is the negative, then that seems to be what we put out as well. Look around and see these things - true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellence, praiseworthiness - think about these things.

God wants us to see the good around us and make note of it, but not just the things we see, but also the things we have been taught. Paul says to look at his example and put into practice what they’ve learned. If they do, then the peace of God will be with them.

Paul says this with confidence, because he has experienced this himself. He’s saying here…I have peace in my life regardless of the situation I find myself in and that peace comes from living my life a certain way. That way is what I have been teaching you and modeling for you. You want peace in your life…follow my example.

Then Paul transitions to thanking his friends in the church...

Philippians 4:10–11 NIV

10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

The Philippian church was not able to show their concern for Paul for whatever reason, but Paul is just thankful they cared. He then says that he is content in whatever the circumstances are, so the church should not feel bad for him. He continues...

Philippians 4:12–14 NIV

12 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, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength. 14 Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

Paul has lived his life as a believer and he has been in need and he has had plenty, but he learned the secret of being content....”I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

That is his secret. We find ourselves in want…I want this or that…I wish I had…and Paul says there is a secret to being content whether you are sleeping in a comfortable bed or are chained to a wall… “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

You have a financial obligation coming up and you don’t know if you’ll be able to meet it: