PART 3 – THE APOSTLE PAUL’S SECRET OF DIVINE CONTENTMENT – PHILIPPIANS 4

As promised here is the Apostle Paul’s secret for divine contentment IN FIVE STEPS  which he learned, and shares with us in Philippians 4 verses 10- 14

Point 1. In verse 10 he reminds us that contentment begins with confidence in God’s providence.

Contentment begins with a settled confidence in God’s sovereign control of all of the events of life that ultimately are going to reach us for our good. That’s what he was saying by implication In verse 10, “I rejoiced when your gift came.” He was, you remember, a prisoner in Rome, he was captive there, chained to a Roman soldier.

Point 2.  In verse 11 he says that, contentment is satisfaction with little, 

“Not that I speak from want, I have learned on the other hand to be content in whatever circumstances I am.”  Here he implies that it was very little that was necessary to satisfy him. If anybody could have said, “I’ve been in great want, very little food, very little subsistence, very great extremities in terms of the incarceration problem,” he could have said, “I have great needs,” instead he says, “I really don’t speak from want at all.” How can you say that, Paul? Because I assess my life and I say I can be satisfied with very very little.

Point 3. In verse 12 he says, “I know how to get along with humble means and how to live in prosperity.”

At the end of the verse he says, “I can be filled or go hungry, I can have abundance or suffer need.” In the middle of the verse, “In any and every circumstance I’ve learned the secret.” I’ve been initiated into the inside secret of how to be content in any kind of circumstance. It doesn’t matter what it is…positive or negative, plus or minus. And, beloved, again that is a component of satisfaction. Satisfaction is not related to what you have.

Point 4  Paul was content because he was sustained by divine power.

And he experienced that. You could even make it…he experienced divine power. Notice verse 13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

Point 5 Paul finally  reminds us that contentment belongs to those who are preoccupied with the well-being of others.

This is absolutely essential to contentment. If Paul could say, “I’ve learned to be content,” then he must have been a man who was more concerned about others than himself. I’ll promise you this, if you live for yourself, you will never be content.

Contentment begins to be a reality when you have no concern about how it is with you, but are only concerned with how it is with others. Then you can be content in your own situation. But we’re not like that. Most of us never experience contentment because we demand our world to be exactly the way we would like it to be. That is a curse. We want to force everything into the mold that we have made. We want our partner in life, husband or wife, to be exactly the way we would expect them to be in order to fulfill our expectation and our design and our agenda. And we would like our children to absolutely conform to this pre-written plan which we have ordained for them to fulfill. And we would like everything in our world to fall into its perfect niche in the little cupboard where we want to compartmentalize every element of existence.