When Faith Replaces Fear: How to Discover Peace in Uncertain Seasons
When money feels tight and anxiety rises, God invites us to anchor our hearts in His promises and discover peace that outlasts the storm.
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11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
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19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Learning Contentment in Amid Challenges
When the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, he was in a Roman prison cell facing difficulty. Yet he wrote in verse 11, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.”
If you look up the word content in an English dictionary or in the Greek, you’ll find it refers to the state of being satisfied. That’s counterintuitive—you’re locked up, but you know something about being satisfied. The logical question is, how does that make any sense?
Paul’s contentment is not to be confused with complacency. He wasn’t a complacent person, instead the Apostle was stewarding his life for God’s glory. Even while in prison, he was bubbling over by writing a letter to the church at Philippi, still being fruitful and Godward. Yet he shared that there was this sense of satisfaction he knew even in this challenging circumstance.
Paul’s contentment was not related to geography or proximity to something. The missionary Elisabeth Elliot once said, “The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”
There’s something Elisabeth Elliot knew and experienced that we see the Apostle Paul experiencing in a season of great challenge and difficulty. Paul learned that he wasn’t born with this equipment, but it was only after he came to know Christ that he learned how to be content. That tells us that Jesus desires to teach all of us as believers.
“I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:12-13
Contrast this with Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:25: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.”
Hudson Taylor’s $0.27
Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission, was one of the first waves of missionaries into China many years ago. There was a season in his life where he and his family were going through great persecution and difficulty, and their resources ran dry.
Hudson retreated into his small office, opened the Word of God, and began to commune with the Lord. Finally, after several hours, he walked out of his office, and his wife asked, “What are we going to do?”
Hudson replied, “Honey, we have 27 cents and all the promises of God. What more do we need?”
That may stir a little chuckle because humor is based on incongruity. We reason, perhaps rightfully so: Had Hudson Taylor’s imagination gone wild? You have $0.27, yet your heart is encouraged? How is that so?
What happened is, Hudson Taylor, as a believer, discovered the source in the same way the Apostle Paul faced a prison sentence: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” They found the source.
The Apostle Paul’s Catalog of Suffering
Consider the difficulty that makes up the biography of the Apostle Paul that he chronicled in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28:
“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.”
You may remember in Acts 14:19-20, when Paul was stoned, it was so severe they thought he was dead. Let’s stop there to validate that PTSD is real. Whether someone’s been robbed, their house burglarized, or even suffered a physical attack, there is a process to healing trauma. So, when we read what of Paul’s experiences, it’s not some mythical fabrication. These are real things that he walked through for the cause of Christ.
Even though this brother in Christ had been through much trial and tribulation, there is a sense in which from this prison cell, he is flourishing in many ways.
“I can do all things through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13
There is a difference between knowing about Christ and knowing Christ. There is a difference between putting your trust in trying to cultivate peace predicated upon your circumstances versus putting your trust in Christ and knowing Christ who is your peace.
The Cost of Worry
JESUS: “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” Matthew 6:27
How many of us, by being anxious, full of anxiety, full of worry, are going to add to their life? The answer is not any of us, and research supports that.
Studies show that chronic worry actually takes years off your life. One 25-year study found that people with high anxiety were 66% more likely to die early. The American Medical Association estimates that 75% of all doctor visits are stress-related.
Why? Because worry batters the body. Worry is psychosomatic in its effects and it:
Raises blood pressure
Weakens our immune system
Disrupts digestion
Linked to headaches and muscle pain
Fuels insomnia
Let’s reframe those with God’s Word:
“For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” 1 John 5:4
It’s important we all understand that John isn’t saying faith for faith’s sake, rather the key is the object of your faith, which is what’s Paul experienced.
When we allow God to develop our character we are doing the God-honoring thing. When you’re being squeezed in difficulty and this sponge of your life is being pressed, be mindful that character is what’s being exhibited.
How Does God Meet Our Needs?
Early in my ministry, I was not paid well. In fact, we were very close to the poverty line. When we would do our weekly budget, it didn’t make any sense. Yet, I was in a preparation ground for what was to come.
However, I had a distinct calling from God. During one conversation with my dad, he asked, “What are you doing?” I told him, “Dad, I’ve seen God be faithful.” He goes, “Well, that makes no sense.” I said, “I know, but I know God’s leading us to do this.”
When we honor God in this way, it’s not transactional. We’re not saying, “God, I’m giving to you, now give to me.” That would be like one of my children saying, “Dad, here’s a birthday card because Mom said I had to.” The way it gets heart to heart is, “Dad, I made this birthday card for you because I love you.” When we tithe and honor God, it’s not transactional. It’s heart to heart: “God, I love, honor and trust you.”
It’s important to remember that when things don’t make sense, such as our expense statement amid God’s calling, how does God meet our needs? God is infinitely creative.
During this period, no one told my grandmother about my salary, but about once a month, she would open her pantry with canned goods, toilet paper, paper towels, and tell us “I’ve been buying this for you. Load your car up.”
When there’s little and life is challenging, God is faithful. Philippians 4:19 tells us, “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
Greater Revelation Than Circumstances
JESUS: “And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:28-33
The theme beneath the core of many of our hearts is fear. We fear trusting God that He’ll actually come through on what He said. Hudson Taylor was human and recognized he was vulnerable to fear, but it was the revelation of God that anchored him as he communed with God.
We see this theme played out in every story in Scripture.
When David, as a 12-year-old boy, stood before Goliath, do you not think his flesh felt fear? If he was only depending on what he could do as a 12-year-old boy standing in front of this anomaly of a man nine feet tall in full armor, does it not make sense he would feel fear? Absolutely! But David had a greater revelation of God than he did of a nine-foot giant. That’s why David was able to trust God in that circumstance.
Daniel, deeply politically connected in the country he served, had to stand against the winds of political waves when he spoke truth. Was he standing on the basis of himself or on transcendent truth because he had a revelation of God?
Think about Peter’s boldness. Peter was a coward multiple times in the Gospels, but when we get to Acts and he’s full of the revelation of God, he’s willing to suffer, repeatedly go to prison, and even be crucified upside down. Peter had a greater revelation of God than which way the cultural winds were blowing.
Anxiety and fear did not reign in their lives. Anxiety and fear are not in the driver’s seat.
JESUS: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Be reminded, that the secret is Christ in us, not us in a different set of circumstances. In Christ, you have peace. In the world, you have tribulation, but in Christ you have peace.
Before you knew Jesus, Scripture says you were an enemy of God (Romans 5:10). When you were reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, you’re now at one with Him. You have legal peace with God.
But you also have peace available to you in your experience—the peace of God.
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:4-6
The key word there is “everything.” That’s 360 degrees of your life. In everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; That represents communion with Jesus.
Notice the fruit that emanates out of abiding in the person of Jesus: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). The peace of God doesn’t make sense in the natural.
Consider this: Why do you not have peace? If this is what Scripture says, is it time to make a shift? It’s a symptom of lack of communion with Jesus, God’s Word and allowing Him to imprint His heart and will into our lives.
Please understand, that’s not said in accusation, but me advocating with you. You don’t get God to love you because you pray. God answers prayer because He loves you. He’s responsive because He loves you.
God Has Given Your New Life
When you became a believer, you entered the school of God. He’s teaching you in your circumstances; they are your classroom. Be reminded, though, your classroom is not in vain. When we see our circumstances as an opportunity to turn to Him, we recognize that He’s developing us and nothing is wasted. It’s easy to miss, but Romans 8:28-29 is at work.
JESUS: “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.” Luke 5:37-38
Jesus used a metaphor about our lives as believers. Wine inebriates and will intoxicate, but it’s a metaphor that Christ inebriates you with His peace. With new wine, Jesus inebriates a believer with joy in the midst of challenging circumstances.
But note what Jesus says: the new wine will not flow into an old wineskin. When a wineskin gets old, the leather gets dry, brittle, immovable, and isn’t shapeable anymore. We need to be spiritually flexible and willing to step into things we haven’t done before. We must be willing to say, “God, I yield and I adapt the pattern of my life to your calling.”
God is at Work
Years ago, one of my children told me, “You need to understand something about me. I’m an atheist. I don’t believe in God.”
For the next two years, every chance I got, I talked to him about it. Until one day he was walking in front of me and as I was praying, “Lord, target his heart,” God pressed into me, “Paul, stop. Stop talking to him and talk to me.”
For the next 13 years, my wife and I just went to war praying for him. Last May, he expressed to the family that he’s come home to Christ.
During those 15 years, God was moving within me amidst that difficulty. As I look back, my wineskin had gotten brittle. My ministry prior to this season was inflexible around certain things that were clear in Scripture. I was stuck in my ways.
It took the pain and trial of what we went through to open my eyes that there’s more to the kingdom. My wineskin became flexible and more malleable to the revelation of God. I began to see God work in ways I had not seen before. God wasn’t just working in our son. God was also developing us.
I want to encourage you that whatever trial or difficulty or layer of anxiety you may be encountering in your life, God is at work.
JESUS: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
In Christ, not in church—although I’m an advocate for that—you will have peace. In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart for Christ have overcome the world. As trials appear, and they will, be reminded that the secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.
TL;DR
Contentment is learned, not given. Paul’s peace in prison reveals that satisfaction flows from Christ, not circumstances.
Faith anchors us when worry attacks. Anxiety cannot add to life, but faith in Christ renews strength and sustains peace.
God provides creatively. When believers give from love and trust, His provision overflows in ways we could never plan.
Trials are classrooms. God uses hardship to reshape our hearts, deepen communion, and pour new wine into flexible lives.
