Welcome to Bible in Brief. I’m Rebecca Foster and today’s Podcast is titled “He Calls you Daughter”. This concept is explored with Philippians 4:13 “ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
Strength is lacking in today’s world where you might be a working Mum, an active participant at church and a volunteer in your community. That’s a lot right? I am that and yet it’s not all me …instead of doing it all in my own strength… I need to tap into living water to refresh me. I can’t do it all alone. Can you?
He calls you daughter.
Did you have a loving biological father who encouraged you, giving you emotional strength? Or propped you up on his shoulders when the walk was too long? If you did, you are much closer to knowing the loving father we have in heaven. My biological father was absent but I learnt to pray early and my heavenly Father gave me strength to keep walking and emotionally keep going when I wanted to give up.
He calls you daughter.
This reference to being a daughter is in Mark 5 - my Bible group is reading Mark – and I’m studying Philippians with Alphacrucis College and unpacking the concepts – culturally and contextually. Philippians is undisputed as written by Paul.[1] Many verses are quoted out of context like cliches[2] as there is a wealth of wisdom but there’s wealth in understanding the context too. The NKJV is more specific in revealing the “he” who gives us strength:
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
There is joy in this relationship with Christ. Paul encouraged the Philippians to know this too. Paul journeyed to Macedonia on the strength of a dream.[3] How often do we have dreams but we don’t take them seriously?
I am inspired by the strength of Paul and his care for women – Lydia was a business woman who was instrumental in the church at Philippi.[4] The slave girl who was held in captivity by a spirit (in Acts 16) was freed. Paul references other women too, albeit there is friction mentioned in chapter 4 – Paul calls for unity in the church. Paul alludes to unity with Christ and others where strength is gained. Disunity with others depletes our strength … This letter reveals the body of Christ as us – His people - but without Christ there is no unity… we need that relationship… that core relationship with Christ to be His body of believers and to have unity with others… even when there are disputes, as Paul references in 4:2. How to operate with unity is to be united with Christ first: in 1:27, we are called, just like the early church, to “stand firm in the one Spirit” and in 2:1-2, to be “united with Christ… make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.” Again in 4:1-2 “… my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for…stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends! …be of the same mind in the Lord.”
He calls for anxiety to be replaced by prayer and gratitude. Paul models this prayer and gratitude as he himself is imprisoned and writing about being grateful for everything he has – physically, not much, but spiritually, abundantly wealthy. This letter is an inspiration. Anxiety is always beckoning at my door! Paul admits to being anxious[5] and yet knows that by witnessing other people’s joy, this anaesthetises the anxiety. Women know this: loving their families and making sacrifices; in their children’s smiles and laughter, many women are relieved of anxiety.
Philippians was written to the church at Philippi, Macedonia. There is some dispute about the dates, depending upon which location one believes Paul was imprisoned. Paul was either imprisoned in Caesarea, Rome or Ephesus, with N.T. Wright arguing for Ephesus with the dates “early t