Content in Every Circumstance (Philippians 4:10-23)

Philippians chapter four, starting in verse ten.

I rejoice in the Lord greatly, because once again you renewed your care for me.

You were in fact concerned about me, but lacked the opportunity to show it.

I don't say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself.

I know how to make do with a little, and I know how to make do with a lot.

In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being content, whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need, I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.

Still, you did well by partnering with me in my hardship.

And you Philippians know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone.

For even in Thessalonica you sent gifts for my need several times.

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that is increasing to your account.

But I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance.

I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God, and my God will supply all your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.

Now to our God and Father be glory for ever and ever.

Amen.

Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.

The brothers who are with me send you greetings.

All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar's household.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for this whole book.

Thank you for all of the things that you have taught us, all the different things that you have shown us in this book.

Whatever it is that you desire to do in us, whatever it is you want to remind us of that maybe we've heard in the first part of this book, whatever it is that you want to do in our heart today, specifically in this passage, Lord, would you do all of those things in us?

Would we come before you humbly and submitted to you with hearts that are ready to hear, with minds that are ready to learn and ears that are ready to hear, and a whole being, our whole soul being ready to change to become more and more like Jesus today?

Would you show us how to do that?

Would you do that work in us individually?

Would you do that work in us as a church here this morning?

We pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

So we've been asking, if you've been with us through this book, we've been asking two questions over and over and over again as we go through this.

And they're going to be very appropriate for today as well.

That first question is Am I allowing God to make the most of my current circumstance?

These are questions I want all of us to consider and to think about.

And then the second thing is, am I content and maintaining the joy of the Lord in every circumstance?

You know, we're going to see this morning that Paul has learned these lessons.

Learned is going to be a key word.

If you are an underliner, as we go through this, I want you to underline every time you see the word learn today in our passage.

But Paul has learned these lessons, and what we're going to see is how these lessons that he's learned are an incredible mark of maturity.

And this is one of those kind of be careful what you pray for texts.

Because if you want to learn how to make the most of your circumstances, God's going to allow you to go through a lot of different circumstances so you can learn that lesson.

And if you want to have contentment and joy in every circumstance, guess what?

God's going to allow you to go through a lot of different circumstances so you can learn how to do that.

You know, and in this text, we will see how this is going right along with the message from last week.

If you were here with the message that Pete gave.

Rome's way over here.

As you can see, there's no easy way to get there, whether on foot, donkey, chariot, ship, you know, whatever it might be.

If you go this way, it's by land and then by sea and then by land again.

If you go down this way, it's very dangerous.

Very dangerous.

There's a little pass right here in Corinth, but you have to drag the boats over that pass.

So there's really no easy way to get to Rome.

And that distance, just to kind of give you scale, from Philippi to Rome, is about the same distance from here to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

That's a ways, isn't it?

And there's an ocean in between it, you know, for them.

Anybody here today, would you be willing to jump on a donkey after service and then take some support to a ministry in New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, because they really need it, but we can only get it there by donkey.

Think about that.

Think about what that would entail for each one of us to jump on a donkey and then ride all of that way just to bring support to Paul.

This is a big deal for Epaphroditus who did this.

This is a big deal for the church that sent him.

You know, if you remember at the end of chapter 2 when Paul was telling this church to honor Epaphroditus who made that journey, and he said, you know, he mentioned that he was a faithful servant of God.

He was a blessing to Paul.

But Paul said to honor him in chapter 2, verse 30, because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up what was lacking in your ministry.

And we talked about what was lacking being the inability for them to minister to Paul because of the distance that was between them.

So Epaphroditus willingly risked his life to close the distance between Philippi and Rome.

You know, as we see again here in verse 10, this church had this deep desire to take care of Paul and his needs as an ambassador for Christ.

But this church couldn't always because of the physical distance they had in between them.

You know, I would imagine it would be hard to keep track of Paul's travels at this time.

They didn't have telephones, they didn't have the Pony Express, they didn't have trains, anything like that.

But they get word in Philippi that Paul's in prison in Rome and they sent support to him.

And he's going to clarify at the end of verse 10 that this isn't passive aggressiveness on Paul's part.

You know, well, I'm glad you renewed your support.

Been a while, Philippi.

You know, it wasn't like that at all.

He's just showing true appreciation for their effort to not only track him down, but then to send somebody as solid as Epaphroditus with support all the way from Philippi to Rome.

Now look at verse 11.

I don't say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I find myself.

And here it is again, this theme of contentment that we've seen throughout the book of Philippi.

And today I want to define it in the Greek for you.

I want to put that up behind me.

So the word content in the Greek means sufficient for oneself, strong enough or processing enough to need no aid or support.

And then the second part of this definition, look at it here.

It says, independent of external circumstances, contented with one's lot, with one's means, though the slenderest.

And he says, I have learned to do this.

I've learned to be content.

I've learned to be independent of external circumstances in my contentment, even if they are the slenderest of times.

You know, this is also another example of Paul giving his testimony to them.

He's telling them about what he's learned as he continues to encourage them to imitate him as he imitates Christ.

And when you think about it, when you think about Paul, he's in prison in Rome at this time.

I think it would have been easy for Paul to feel discontented in this time.

You know, he's chained to a Roman guard, he's under house arrest in a foreign country, and he's awaiting trial.

I think it would have been easy for Paul to ask the questions.

You know, God, why have you allowed this to happen to your servant?

You know, I was just trying to do your will, Lord.

God, why did you send me if I was just going to end up persecuted and then in prison?

Wouldn't it be easy for Paul to feel lonely in this time?

God, where are you in this?

God, why aren't you intervening?

Or maybe to even start doubting?

You know, God, did I do something wrong?

Is this punishment because I missed something along the way?

Wouldn't you want a healthy servant that's not in prison?

Wouldn't you prefer if I was out actively visiting churches and encouraging them, or maybe even planting new ones?

But Paul knew better, and we see that in these verses this morning.

He had so much trust in God, and that he was walking in obedience to the Spirit that he had learned to be content in every circumstance.

And Paul already told us in Philippians, he has not been perfected.

But his maturity in Christ is really off the charts here.

This is about as mature as you can get this side of heaven.

If you're able to say, I've learned to be content in every circumstance.

You know, so the question for us today is how do we, how do each one of us individually learn to be content?

You know, like I already mentioned, unfortunately, I think it's gonna involve opportunities to be discontent.

Opportunities for us to be uncomfortable.

You know, you can't really learn to be content, I don't think, on a tropical white sand beach in a lounge chair.

I'd like to try, but I don't think that's where you usually learn contentment.

But it's kind of like faith.

How do you learn to have more faith in God?

You have to have more opportunities to trust him and then to watch him follow through.

How do you learn to be more content?

It's by watching him provide through the hard times.

You know, faith and contentment are not things that God usually infuses in us.

He doesn't usually download those things.

We pray for him and he's like, bam, there you go.

He gives us the opportunities to grow and to learn in that way.

Like Paul here, I have learned, there's that word again, keep underlining it, to be content.

You know, the ultimate goal is to get where Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane, where in every situation we can honestly say, Father, not my will, but yours.

Now, look at how Paul learned this in verse 12.

He says, I know how to make do with a little, and I know how to make do with a lot.

In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of being content, whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need.

In the best of times, in the worst of times, regardless of outward circumstance, God's good.

When things are tight and you only have a little bit, not only should we be looking to God to provide, we should trust that God will provide in those times.

You know, God tells us in Scripture to be hard workers, to be faithful hard workers, but he also tells us not to overwork to get rich.

We're simply to trust in him for our daily bread.

Now, if you find yourself in a season of a lot and you have excess and enough to store away in some storehouses, this can be equally as hard as living through those lean times as well.

You know, I think some of us are probably like, yeah, well, let me try.

Let's see what happens, Lord.

Give me the chance.

But in Matthew 19, 24, Jesus says, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.

So let me ask you this question.

Who's gonna depend on God more to be their provider?

Somebody that's going through a time of richness or somebody who's going through a time of poorness?

You know, somebody in a lean season or somebody in a season of abundance.

Now, I'm not gonna lie, seasons of abundance can be fun, can't they?

But personally, when we've had those seasons, my dependence, say, you know, something happens to the car, say the transmission goes out in the car.

My dependence in those seasons of abundance tends to be on my bank account, not so much on God.

And you know, I've heard people say, and I think it's very true, the more assets you have, the more you have to worry about, the more you have to maintain, the more you have to protect, the more you have to ensure.

You know, and there's nothing sinful about riches, there's nothing sinful about seasons of plenty, but those seasons of plenty, they have issues of their own, just as much as seasons of leanness do.

You know, and if those seasons of abundance are actually drawing us away from the Lord, or they're increasing our fear and our worry, or they're placing our dependence on something that's not God, God probably won't place that stumbling block before you.

Now, on the other side, I've also seen God give some Christians a ton of money, and they handle it beautifully.

Never seeing it as their own.

It's just something that God has entrusted them with, and God just uses them as an avenue in which they can bless others.

You know, I've seen it where they've just used it all for God's glory, and it didn't stumble them, and their dependence remained on God, and God just used them as givers, and he just kept blessing them because they just never held on to it tightly and they never depended on it.

But in all of this, the main thing, and Paul's point here, is to be content in every season.

Never lose dependence upon God and don't let external circumstances dictate whether you're content or not.

You know, in Proverbs 30, there's a prayer that I think we should all know, and I think we should all pray.

It says, Give me neither poverty nor wealth, feed me with the food I need.

Otherwise, I might have too much and deny you, saying, Who is the Lord?

Or I might have nothing and steal, profaning the name of God.

And I think that's right where God wants us to live in that prayer.

Now, here's the secret to how Paul remains content.

Look at verse 13.

I am able to do all things through him who strengthens me.

This is how Paul is remaining content.

And we a lot of us know this verse, a lot of us have this verse memorized, but we have to remember the context of this verse.

And the context of this verse is in contentment.

And notice this only comes when we're abiding in Christ.

It says, through him.

Look at that.

It says, through him who strengthens me.

You know, you'll see athletes sometimes, well-meaning, but they'll be like, you know, I can win this game through Christ who strengthens me.

But if we're going to use the correct context of this verse in that situation, the athlete should be saying, I can be content in this game with a win, with a loss, or with a season-ending injury through Christ who strengthens me.

You know, whatever the outcome, wherever I find myself tomorrow, even if that's in an MRI machine, I can be content, not because of myself, but through Christ who strengthens me.

You know, I saw an MLB pitcher who had this verse tattooed on his arm.

And I just remember seeing that and thinking, I hope he knows the context of this verse, because it's a serious verse.

It's all about being content regardless of the circumstance.

You know, I think also too often we treat this verse like an energy drink.

I'm gonna slam some Jesus and run through some walls, you know, or something like that.

When it's all about abiding, it's all about submitting, when it's all about trusting God in every circumstance.

Now, Paul's gonna tell Philippi how God used them to help him in his time of leanness.

So look at verse 14.

Still you did well by partnering with me in my hardship.

And you Philippians know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone.

Now we see in Acts 16 that when Paul was in Philippi, he was treated very poorly.

We went over this when we introduced this book.

You know, this was his first stop in this region.

But this church deeply cared for him after he was shamed in Philippi.

He was beaten, he was flogged, he was wrongfully imprisoned, and they cared for him and they took care of him, and they kept doing that later in his ministry.

They never stopped doing that for him.

You know, we learned when we read through Corinthians that they actually supported Paul in their poverty, it says.

Paul was supported and encouraged through the generosity of this church, and they were not a rich church, they were supporting him through their poverty.

God was using the body of Christ to support him and to help strengthen Paul in this time.

And I think we as a church, you as individuals, I think I've seen you guys do this really, really well.

As far as supporting one another, supporting missionaries, whatever it might be.

And I'm not talking about the offering box even.

You know, I see this in you guys through meal trains.

Like we do meal trains really well.

Really well.

That's a way to support one another through the body of Christ, for the body of Christ.

You know, I see this through times of prayer.

You know, one of my favorite things is to look around before and after service and see you guys praying for each other for each other.

You know, Jesus told his disciples that whoever gave them a cup of cold water will never lose their reward.

Something as simple as just giving another believer a cold cup of water, something Jesus Notices and rewards for eternity.

Even the smallest act.

God wants to use the church to bless the church.

He wants to use the church to support missionaries and to support other Christians and to support each other.

Like here in verse 16, it says, For even in Thessalonica, you sent gifts for my need several times.

Paul mentions in both of his letters to the Thessalonians that he worked night and day to support himself and not be a burden to them at any time when he was with this church.

In both 1st and 2 Thessalonians, he mentions that to them.

He wasn't in the habit in his ministry of demanding money for doing the work of ministry.

He was willing to work as needed, and we see that when he was in Thessalonica.

But the Philippian church, they cared for him so deeply that from a hundred miles away, Philippi to Thessalonica, they were supporting him.

Again, let's put that map up.

I want to show you again.

So Philippi to Thessalonica, oh, they're just right next to each other.

That's about the distance from Atascan Earth of Santa Barbara, right here.

It's about a hundred miles or so.

Now, no engines, anything like that.

Again, who wants to jump on the donkey?

You know, and go down to Santa Barbara and deliver some gifts.

Now, get this.

Paul was in Thessalonica for three weeks total, what he's referring to here, a hundred miles away.

And he says right here, they sent gifts to him several times in those three weeks.

So why didn't they just do one large offering and make one trip and just be like, here you go, Paul.

Just here all of it is.

I imagine, because they're just scraping things together.

You know, they gave out of their poverty, says in Corinthians.

So I think it was like, hey, we got a little bit of money, we got a little bit of food, we've got some clothing.

Who's jumping on the donkey next?

You know, several times in three weeks they were making that trip down there to continue their support of Paul.

Now, we see a bit more of Paul's heart here in verse 17.

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that is increasing to your account.

So again, Paul wasn't begging for money in his ministry.

He wasn't going around dropping big hints and seeking these gifts.

He wasn't trying to get rich through his ministry.

Now, I I think as needs came up, he probably had no problem expressing what those were.

But he wasn't begging for them and he wasn't trying to get rich through the ministry of the gospel.

You know, he was genuinely, here we see, excited that the Philippian church would get to experience the blessing of giving.

You guys ready for this?

I'm gonna drop a big bomb here this morning.

You ready?

God doesn't need your money.

He spoke everything into existence.

He literally is without need.

Not just money, he is without need.

He doesn't need anything.

You know, and if that's the case, why doesn't God just jump in and infuse some money into our bank account when things are lean?

You ever think about that?

You know, where we can sign into our account and like, wow, there's a thousand dollars from the bank of heaven.

Look at that, you know?

He could if he wanted.

Yet he calls us to be involved in giving.

Why?

Why would he do that?

Why does he want us as the church to be involved in giving?

Well, one, God wants us to trust him to provide.

And two, God wants us to experience the joy of giving within the body of Christ.

Scripture says that he loves a cheerful giver.

You see, you can't outgive God.

I love Malachi chapter 3.

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

It talks all about it.

Go read it if you've never read it before.

But God actually says to challenge him in this, to see if you can outgive him.

And God actually says in Malachi chapter 3, see if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.

Malachi 3 · chapter mention

You see, God's the ultimate giver.

And we're called to be just like him, aren't we?

That's part of this process of sanctification, becoming like Jesus.

He is the ultimate giver.

For God so loved the world, he gave, right?

He gave his only son.

And there's nothing greater that he could have given.

And just for that reason alone, we can never outgive God.

Because of the gift of Jesus Christ.

That's why Paul says here in verse 17, I seek the prophet that is increasing to your account.

Hey, you guys, you gave to God, and I can't wait to see how you're blessed because of that giving to God.

Now look at verse 18.

But I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance.

I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided, a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.

I love how Paul, through the Holy Spirit, obviously, here phrases this, this verse.

He's not saying, hey, thanks for supporting me.

He's saying, thank you for giving to God.

And I'm so excited about the benefits that you're going to reap.

You know, Paul sees this gift not as an offering to him, but as an offering to the Lord.

And he simply just gets to partake in their offering to the Lord.

You know, and all of our giving should really be in that same way.

Not to a person, not to a ministry, but giving it to the Lord as we give it to that ministry or that organization or whatever it might be.

You know, Paul's comparing their gift here to a sacrifice that's directly given to the Lord.

A fragrant offering.

Just like we see in the Old Testament, the pagans, even in Philippi, would be familiar because that was a practice that the pagans did as well.

But Paul was seeing it as a direct offering to the Lord.

Now look at what Paul says to them next.

Verse 19.

And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

He's saying, Philippi, you just gave to God.

You just sacrificed from your poverty for his kingdom.

And now God will bless you.

He's going to supply for your needs because he's rich.

And you can't outgive him.

And he's going to open up the floodgates of heaven on you because of the way that you've given to him.

And I think when we're talking about this, our minds want to automatically go to finance.

You know, when we read this.

But this says, if you look at this verse, it says, supply all your needs.

Every need.

And that includes all the needs we have that cannot be bought with money.

Like our salvation in Jesus Christ.

We can't buy that with money.

Think of things like how about contentment and loneliness?

You can't buy that with money.

Comfort in doubt.

What about contentment when we struggle or we're in pain?

You can't buy that with money.

But God will supply, it says, all your needs.

You know, if you remember in Ephesians, it talked about God's immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Jesus Christ.

That's a big thing that we talked about.

God's rich.

He has everything that we need.

And I'm not even talking about finances, that's a part of it, but I'm not even talking about.

He has everything that we need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

When things are lean for us, remember this.

When things are hard, remember this.

When you feel like you have a need, remember this.

Look to God.

Nothing's too big for him.

Nothing's too hard.

Nothing's too difficult.

He wants us to trust him and he will provide in all of those circumstances.

This is not a promise to make us rich.

This is a promise to meet our needs with his riches.

Nothing is too big for him.

You know, sometimes it will simply be that he will provide our daily bread.

But will we be content with just daily bread?

Or will contentment only come when we have weekly bread or yearly bread and have that security moving forward.

You know, I always think of Israel in the wilderness.

God provided manna from heaven from them, this miraculous food for them, six days a week.

On Friday, he told them to gather double so that they wouldn't have to gather on the Sabbath.

But Sunday through Thursday, if they gathered more than they needed, it would rot by the next morning.

Because God wanted them to rely on him daily.

And then on Fridays, they would gather double the manna.

And guess what?

On Saturday morning, it was still fine.

It was miraculously not rotted like the other six days of the week.

You know, in Matthew 6, verses 25 through 26, Jesus was teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 6:25–26

And he says, Therefore I tell you, don't worry about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.

Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?

Consider the birds of the sky.

They don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Aren't you worth more than they?

You know, sometimes God wants us to find contentment with our physical needs or our spiritual needs, our emotional needs, simply by meeting those needs for the day.

And that's hard.

If we're all being honest, that is really hard.

We want those things to be met for a lifetime or for the year or for the week.

But he wants us to ask, Lord, will you meet my physical needs, my daily bread for today?

Will you meet my spiritual needs, you know, to help with that struggle with sin that I have?

Will you meet that need for today?

Lord, will you help me to be bold for the gospel today?

To be your hands and feet today.

Or we can talk about emotional needs.

Lord, will you meet my need for loneliness today?

My need because I have this anxiety for today.

Will you be my comfort in my fear for today?

Will you be my security in doubt for today?

God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

And he goes on in verse 20 to say, now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever.

Amen.

You know, all that Paul's done, all that he's mentioned, all the testimony that he's given to this church, it's not for his glory.

He's not trying to put himself on this pedestal and say, hey, look at me.

I'm content, I'm mature, I've arrived.

He's not doing that at all.

He's saying, imitate me as I imitate Christ.

It's all for his glory.

So live like it, he's telling them, as you become more like Jesus.

And now we see Paul sign off here at the end of this letter in verse 21.

He says, Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.

So the whole church in Philippi.

Tell them I said hello.

The brothers who are with me send you greetings.

So we know one of those brothers is Timothy.

Verse 22.

All the saints send you greetings.

So the church in Rome, especially those who belong to Caesar's household.

You know, this is probably a result of the time Paul spent evangelizing to all the people while he was under house arrest.

And then verse 23, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

If you remember, Paul started this book off, chapter 1, verse 2, with Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then he ends this letter with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

He kind of booked this letter with grace.

You know, and grace just being something that we don't deserve.

And God giving it to us anyway, like salvation.

You know, we deserve hell.

You know, we deserve getting an eternity in hell in separation from God.

But he offers us perfection with Christ Jesus forever.

We're deserving of rejection from God, but we get to in Christ experience the perfect love of a Father for all eternity.

So he's kind of saying, may the getting what you don't deserve of Christ Jesus be with your spirit.

You know, the whole book of Philippians is just all of these things, all of the things he's saying we should be doing, and Christian maturity and contentment, it's all sandwiched in between grace on both sides.

The grace of God that we don't deserve.

And that's Philippians.

And I hope going through this book together, I really hope that it's helped each one of us personally to answer those questions that we've been going through this whole book that I put up earlier.

Am I allowing God to make the most of my current circumstance?

And am I content in maintaining the joy of the Lord in every circumstance?

You know, just in our passages today, we saw things to help us with this.

He will supply all of our needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus.

And we can only experience contentment in every circumstance through Christ who strengthens us.

You know, if you're here today and you don't have that relationship with Jesus Christ that we've been talking about, you've never experienced the grace of Jesus Christ that we've been talking about, you've never known the peace with God, you've never known the peace of God, you've never known the contentment of God or that trust that we've been talking about to provide for every one of our needs.

I just want to encourage you this morning, make that commitment.

It's nothing, it's not some exact word-for-word prayer that you have to pray.

It's just saying, God, I need you.

Jesus, I understand that you died for my sins on the cross.

Will you forgive me of my sins?

Will you be my Lord and my Savior?

And that's simply it.

And then you start following him.

You can do that right in your seat here this morning.

And then you will get to experience all of the things that we got to talk about here today.

That contentment that can only come from Jesus Christ.

The grace that can only come from Jesus Christ.

And if you end up doing that, come tell us afterwards.

We won't make it weird or awkward.

We just want to chat with you and give you some next steps of what you can do as you start to walk with Jesus Christ.

But would you please pray with me?

Lord, we thank you so much for this book once again.

We thank you for all that you've taught us.

Help us not to forget the lessons that we've learned, the things that you've asked us to do, the things that you've asked us to change in our life.

We don't want to just come here for head knowledge.

Lord, we want to come and understand your word and how to apply it to our lives so that we can become more and more like Jesus Christ.

Lord, I pray that you would have your perfect way in each and every one of us.

Do your work, continue to do your work as we continue to worship you through song here this morning.

Lord, I pray that it would just be a time to reflect on all the things that you've shown us.

And a time for us to express to you just continued thanksgiving for the love that you first loved us with, for the salvation that you offer through your Son Jesus Christ.

For that gift.

Lord, we can never outgive you simply because of that gift, but also in every other way.

I pray that we would see the things that we possess here on earth as just things that you've given us to take care of while we're here.

That we would see everything that we have, every dollar in our pocket or in our bank account as yours.

That we would seek you in every way of how you want us to spend it, how you want us to give it, how you want us to invest it.

But help us to see everything that we have as simply a gift from you and to use it for your kingdom, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.