Contentment....

BUT I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the lst your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. NOt that I speak in respoect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know hot to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to about and to suffer need. Philippeans 4. 10-12

"Can I be abased without feeling a sense of grudge, or without being worried, or without being anxious?..... Can I somehow or another be put down and still remain in spriti exactly as I was before?"

"One of the the greatest tasks in life is to discover how to suffer any or all of those things without feeling a sense of grudge, without complaint or annoyance (a personal favorite) or bitterness of spirit, to discover how not to be worried or anxious. Paul tells us that he has learned how to do that. He had experience every kind of trial and tribulation and yet he is unaffected by them."

"

1. Conditions are always changing, therefore I must obviously not be dependent upon conditions.

2. What matters supremely and vitally is my soul and my relationship to God---that is the first thing.

3. God is concerned about me as my Father, and nothing happens to me apart from God. Even the very hairs on my head are all numbered. This, I must never forget.

4. God's will and god's ways are a great mystery, but I know that whatever He wills or permits is of necessity for my good.

5. Every situation in life is the unfolding of some manifestation of Gods' love and goodness. Therefore my business is to look for this peculiar manifestaton of God's goodness and kindness and to be prepared for surprises and blessings becuase 'His ways are not my ways, neither His thoughts my thouts'. What, for examplee, is the great lesson that Paul learned in the matter of the thorn in his flesh? It is that: 'When I am weak then am I strong'. Paul was tuaght through phusical weaknes the manifestationi of God's grace.

6. I must regard circumstances and conditions, not in and of themselves therefore, but as a part of Gods' dealings iwth me in the work of perfecting my soul and bringing me to final perfection.

7. Whatever my conditions may be at this present moment they are only temporary, they are only passing, and they can never rob me of the joy and the glory that ultimately await me with Christ."

D. M. Lloyd-Jones-

AMEN AND AMEN