Day 34 — Stand Firm

Philippians 4: 1

1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

Before I started my role at Gas Street, I worked for a Church in South East London. The young people there were amazing, and although I knew that moving to Birmingham was God’s plan, it was still difficult to say good-bye. As I was preparing for my final youth group, I was desperate to say something inspirational, hard-hitting and memorable but what did I do? I just cried uncontrollably and could barely say my own name! How embarrassing…

Over the past four days we’ve taken a short snippet from four chapters of Philippians. Today we hear from Paul’s final chapter. I wonder when Paul was writing his letters, did he think about the final words just a little bit more than the rest hoping this would be what they remember?

Paul’s final plea to this Church is: Stand firm in the Lord. Paul knew what he was saying. He knew things would try and distract them and knock them off track and their pursuit of Jesus, so he urges them: Stand firm.

In this season not being able to gather together has been really tough, I’ve missed our corporate acts of worship, ministry and teaching terribly. Those quiet times on my own of reading the Bible, listening to God and personal worship are now ever more important. But still Paul commands: Stand firm.

In all of this uncertainty and chaos, how can we stand firm? We actually need to become unstable, and lean more on God, asking the Holy Spirit to fill us and stir within us, and thank Jesus for all that he is, and all that he’s done. By coming back to these simple but essential practices, we can not only stand firm in the Lord, but thrive and flourish in these times too.

Prayer: Lord, help us to stand firm in this time, to embrace the simplicity of faith, and to thrive and flourish in our relationship with you. Amen.

James Leavy
Leadership Team