If you’re like me, you are thinking, “Paul, how can you expect me to rejoice in my current circumstances? You can’t possibly know what I’m going through.” If you read 2 Corinthians 11 or Acts 16, you will see that the Apostle Paul did indeed understand trials and suffering. Yet through all of his suffering, he had joy. In fact, the words for “joy” and “rejoice” appear 16 times in this short letter which Paul wrote
from prison!


Where does this joy and rejoicing come from? Would I have been marked by that kind of joy through all of my years in prison? Paul urges us that “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure…think about such things” (v.8-9). Jesus is truth incarnate. Jesus is noble; He is the King of kings. Jesus is right; He is the Righteous One. Jesus is pure as the Lamb of God without spot or blemish. If you want to have joy and rejoicing, follow Paul’s example and meditate on Christ and what He has done for you. “The God of peace will be with you” (v. 9).