the secret of being content in any and every situation

"...I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, ..., whether living in plenty or in want.." Phil 4:12 NIV

a lesson I learned several (many) years ago ... When circumstances surprise me or change in ways I don't understand or enjoy, I ask myself a question I know the answer to. "Did God change? (Do my circumstances change (over shadow) who my God is and what He does?) The answer every time is; God has NOT changed and that He is not taken off guard. He is still Sovereign and He is still good. God's greatest goal is to create us in HIS image, and He uses EVERYTHING toward that good. He is our redeemer. His is our very present help. He is our healer. He is our victorious righteous and just warrior defender King. He is our sweet Father, working even the work of the enemy to our eternal Kingdom of God good. Troubles will come my friends, but God's goodness strength sovereignty faithfulness and power is unaffected by our circumstances. Our Hope and Victory and in fact our very being(eternal) is secure in Him no matter what the circumstances.

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. ... Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you."
James 3

"be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble ... repay ... with blessing, because to this you were called ... turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it"
1 Peter 3

I will rejoice in all things...
"... God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ... Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. " James 1


I rejoice at the revelation of the that the Word and Spirit of God bring, using even my day to day challenges to reveal the weak and sin affected areas in my own life. He will is to set me free it, through repentance and the casting down of idols, and renewed pursuit of His Kingdom. I am convinced that I am to joyfully live an abundant life, ever repentant and ever growing and increasing in the fleshed-out likeness of God. This makes me sincerely rejoice as I turn (repent), grateful for God's persistent love and His producing in me His righteousness, which is from God and is by faith (Phil 3). I also rejoice because the hope in God is unshaken, even when our circumstances are trying and seem unstable.

"...since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us."
Romans 5

"whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do."
James 1

" I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Phil 4:13