https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Phil+4%3A8-14&version=NIVUK

I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.

Philippians 4:13-14

We should be amazed at man’s genius in managing to pull a ‘favourite verse’ out of a passage. I am talking specifically about v. 13: ‘I can do all things through him who gives me strength’. Our dozing eyes suddenly open wide because it sounds as if Paul is speaking our language at last. I can do it! I can succeed! We like to roar. Of course, you can. But not in this context. If we were not sleeping through even just the verse before it and one after it, Paul’s agenda is not at all about his capability but about the Philippians’ material contribution given to him. Well done! – he says, not because I am in need of it (v. 11). But because you are sharing in my trouble (v. 14). This is the voice that speaks in verse 13. Even if you did not pay me, I would live because the Holy Spirit strengthens me to go even through poverty! And this is the kind of union you are in with me through the Spirit! – Do you hear Paul now? Boldness is not arrogance. Rather, it is sheer humility, because the one who exerts it is our best friend, our God the Holy Spirit.

Lord, let us have this boldness! Let us display it to ourselves and to others by embracing your excellence and thinking of your purity, humbleness, and righteousness (v. 8), whenever we feel as if we lack anything!

• What is the main reason Paul is praising the Philippians in this passage? How is the view different from when we normally praise other people?
• When you encourage others that they can do things, what should you be careful about?What should you be looking to be able to do first and foremost in light of this passage?
• Why would that be important in setting your worldview (values)?