Contentment..No Matter What Part 4: Transformational Steps

This is the last of this series on contentment, and can I say that even this weekend, after teaching on this at a women’s event Friday night, I’ve been challenged to stand on what I believe about contentment.

You can read part 1, part 2, and part 3 if you missed those. Then come back and let’s get practical!

We must remember, we do not have the whole picture..but God does! Paul understood this. He said in  Philippians 4:11-13, “I don’t say this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I find myself. I know both how to make do with little, and I know how to make do with a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being content — whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me.”

This verse if not a cure all. The context of Paul’s strength was that he had found contentment no matter the outcome. It is true that the enemy is strong and only through Christ can we stand strong. But the enemy wants you to believe it’s the situation that’s making you unhappy. He DOES NOT want you to find contentment!

I wrote about his tactics in this post. Read the real life illustration my daughter shared that looks so much like how Satan stalks us!

I Peter 5:8-9 is another reminder of the devil’s work:  Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.

Let me share 8 simple, transformational challenges . These are not new, but reminders of the importance of discipleship…maturity in Christ. These can be the changes that determine whether or not we find contentment:

1. Get in the Word! You must have His truth to challenge what you may be “feeling” or what culture is teaching you. Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God remains forever.” I’ll say it again, get into His Word…DAILY!
2. Memorize Scripture. This is how Jesus defeated the enemy when He was tempted after His baptism. It works!
3. Understand who Christ is. Realize the Bible is not primarily a book about you, but about God and His redemptive plan through Jesus. As you get to know the big picture of redemption story you will discover who He wants you to be.
4. Understand who you are in Christ. I will use my power or His power. His is what I need because of what we read in Philippians 4:13. It’s only THROUGH CHRIST we have this power!
5. Pray for God to give you the desire for and ability to find contentment. Would you just be willing to be content? Ask Him to make you willing.
6. Believe God no matter how you feel or how the circumstances appear. He doesn’t push us out on a limb and say, good luck. He is with us and we must not only read and memorize scripture, we must BELIEVE the Truth.
7. Be content no matter the season in which your find yourself. I’m in a new season called “retirement” and still navigating what that looks like as I continue to serve Christ in ministry. And as I learn to live 24/7 for the first time with the man I married 47 years ago!
8. Touch the lives of other women who need to know this contentment. When your life is a story of contentment no matter what, you can impact so many others who desperately need to know the secret of your contentment, joy, and peace.

Someone once said, “One of the marks of spiritual maturity is the quiet confidence that God is in control-without the need to understand why He does what He does.” It’s not our circumstances that make us who we are, or make us content…it’s WHO we are and WHOSE we are. Read Psalm 37:3-7 as you seek to keep an eternal perspective in your current season of contentment, OR lack of!

Some life experiences will change us forever. The death of a loved one is permanent and we will never be the way we were before. If that’s where you are, listen to this song by Danny Gokey,  Tell Your Heart to Beat Again. Even in this contentment is possible and essential.

Living in contentment is a testimony of the power of God and the identity you have in Him. Don’t you think the women around us need to see that in today’s world?  Find contentment only in Christ so you can let your life splatter all over a world of women who are lost, restless, hopeless, jealous, insecure, discontented.

I’m praying you seek and find His peace and contentment no matter what!

Banner Photo by Olivia Snow on Unsplash