Start with Grace and Peace

Acts 16:6-12
6 Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time. 7 Then coming to the borders of Mysia, they headed north for the province of Bithynia, but again the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them to go there. 8 So instead, they went on through Mysia to the seaport of Troas. 9 That night Paul had a vision: A man from Macedonia in northern Greece was standing there, pleading with him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 So we decided to leave for Macedonia at once, having concluded that God was calling us to preach the Good News there. 11 We boarded a boat at Troas and sailed straight across to the island of Samothrace, and the next day we landed at Neapolis. 12 From there we reached Philippi, a major city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. And we stayed there several days.

Beloved Verses in Philippians

• “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.” 1:21
• “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” 2:13
• “But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.” 3:20
• “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” 4:13

Philippians 1:1-2
1 This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of God’s holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the church leaders and deacons. 2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Joy is the state of contentment and confidence, independent of the happenings around us but dependent upon the awareness of Christ and the right relationship we enjoy with God because of Him.

“Grace is a Christian word used 155 times in the New Testament– 100 times by Paul. Through it, he conveys to his readers more than his own personal greetings. He stresses each time the enormous idea of the free, spontaneous, unmerited favor of God entirely on the basis of the death of Christ.”
“Peace in the writings of Paul connotes harmony, tranquillity, wholeness, well-being, salvation of the total person, the reconciliation of that person to God– peace at the deepest level. The whole greeting, “grace and peace,” therefore, states that the Old Testament dream for the future is being fulfilled. It becomes an epitome of all that is central and essential in the Christian religion.”
Philippians: World Biblical Commentary; Gerald Hawthorne, pp. 10-11