Making Progress

"If there's no struggle, there's no progress."
- Frederick Douglass

Thankfullness from an obedient heart

Lately I've been studying in the book of Philippians.

It's been called the book of Joy, and I've been struggling so much with being tired and getting grumpy, that I figured I could use it. I read though the book a couple of times and now am working through a bible study I bought through CBD.

What gets me is that Paul wrote this from prison. Yet he and Silas are there praising God even when they were flogged for sharing the gospel and put into prison. How come?

When I look at the text I see that they were thanking God. They chose to be thankful.

The author of the bible study I'm doing made the following points:

"God commanded that we praise Him and that we thank Him at all times. When we respond in obedience, even though circumstances look hopeless, God can use those bad circumstances to bring glory to Himself and maturity to us."

"When we praise God, we show Him that we trust Him even if we don't see His hand at work all the time. Verbalizing our praise for a difficult situation releases the fear and anger inside us and allows God to bring something good out of it."

(Taken from "Keys to Contentment" by Sharon A. Steele)