Philippians 4:4-7, NIRV

⁴Always be joyful because you belong to the Lord. I will say it again. Be joyful! ⁵Let everyone know how gentle you are. The Lord is coming soon. ⁶Don’t worry about anything. No matter what happens, tell God about everything. Ask and pray, and give thanks to him. ⁷Then God’s peace will watch over your hearts and your minds. He will do this because you belong to Christ Jesus. God’s peace can never be completely understood.

Message:

I wonder if you have ever been very afraid. (Allow children to respond.) Have you ever gotten lost and weren’t sure where to find your mom or dad? Have you ever had a loved one become very sick? Have you ever gone to bed, and a bad storm wakes you up in the darkness in a very loud way? Whatever the reason, whenever we are afraid, it is hard to think straight. We can’t get our worries out of our minds.

When Paul, who wrote several letters that are found in our New Testament part of the Bible, wrote the words from Philippians, his close friends in the city of Philippi were afraid for him. He had been arrested for teaching about Jesus and found himself in jail. Paul knew that God would take care of him, and he wanted his friends to feel the same hope and joy that he felt. Can you imagine that? Paul was in jail, but still felt hope and joy! Do you think you would be feeling joy if you were in jail? (Allow children to answer.) Paul was all about joy, so he encouraged the Philippians to do a few things.

First, they should tell God all their worries. How do we do that? (Allow children to answer.) That’s right, we pray. Praying is our opportunity to talk to God.
Second, Paul wanted the Philippians to ask God to help them, and
Finally, Paul reminded them to give thanks to God for all the good things God had done.

There’s that word again, thanks. Paul did not promise his friends that God would make sure he got out of jail. He didn’t promise that God would take away the hard times in his life. But Paul did promise them that God would answer their prayers by giving them peace when life got hard, and they went through difficult times.

That’s faith. Faith in God is a way of living, but it also is a way of being in the world.

Faith is something that should be shown in what we do and say. Faith should be shown in the choices we make and how we follow Jesus day-to-day in our lives. Faith is something that should be in us and come out of us so that everyone around us sees that our lives have that certain something. That something is a Jesus-lived life filled with gratitude! We should be the ones who live life by giving thanks to those who have done things for us and continue to do things for us. Gratitude and giving thanks to others shows the rest of the world, just as Paul showed the Philippians, that we have faith in God in every moment. And that brings joy. Joy is something that is created out of giving thanks.

I wonder, as Paul reminds us, do you have joy? If you do, give thanks to God!

Prayer:

God, thank you for listening to me whenever I am afraid. Help me remember all the good things you have done for me. Please fill my heart and my mind with your peace. In Christ’s name, Amen.