In Philippians 1:12-18, Paul opens up about his imprisonment and you would expect to find a man in crisis, pleading for the Philippians to pray for him as he is in chains. But as we saw last week, Paul is the one doing the praying and instead of finding him depressed and defeated we find him rejoicing.

Why was Paul able to rejoice while imprisoned? Because he knew the ending of the story. He knew that the success of the Gospel was guaranteed and he knew that even as he was in chains, the message of Jesus was being unleashed—even to the imperial guard!

Joy is multiplied where victory is secure. Like Paul, we can have joy in trial because the victory has already been won in Jesus. Our eternal hope, joy, and peace come from the finished work of Jesus.