“I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.”Philippians 1:12 (NLT)
If you want to be happy, you need to look at every problem from God’s perspective. Happy people have a larger perspective. They see the big picture, like God does. When you don’t see things from God’s point of view, you get discouraged, frustrated, and unhappy.
No matter what’s going on in your life—the good, the bad, and the ugly—God is working out a plan. Paul knew this. He says in Philippians 1:12, “I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News” (NLT).
After Paul became a Christian on the road to Damascus, he had one great dream: He wanted to preach in Rome, the center of power in the known world at the time. His dream was to preach the gospel in the most important city in the world.
But God had another idea. Instead of sending Paul to Rome to preach crusades, God allowed him to become a royal prisoner of Nero. Nero was Caesar at that time—and a wicked and corrupt leader.
As a prisoner, Paul was chained to a rotation of royal guards every day for two years. That means Paul had the opportunity to witness to thousands of guards. Who was the real prisoner here? Who had the captive audience?
This wasn’t Paul’s plan, but it was God’s plan all along, and it produced amazing effects. There were two results that we know for sure.
First, Philippians tells us that the gospel became known throughout the whole palace guard, and that even some of Caesar’s own household had become believers because of Paul’s witness in Rome.
Second, it was kind of hard to get a guy like Paul to stop moving. In prison, he was forced to be still, and, as a result, he wrote much of the New Testament, including Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon These books have revealed Jesus to countless people over the years.
Paul knew that God had a bigger plan. Because he trusted what God was doing through his problems, Paul could be happy.
Any time you have a problem that’s starting to get you down, you need to do what Paul did: Learn to see it from God’s point of view. Ask, “What is God doing here? What’s the bigger picture? What’s the bigger perspective?” Then you’ll be able to face the problem in faith.
Rick Warren is an innovative pastor, renowned author, and global influencer known for founding Saddleback Church, the Purpose Driven Network, the PEACE Plan, and Hope for Mental Health. He has written several best-selling books, including The Purpose Driven Life, which has sold over 35 million copies in 200 languages. Time magazine named Warren the most influential spiritual leader in America and one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Since stepping down from the lead pastor role at Saddleback in 2022, Warren has continued to inspire people through his Daily Hope Devotional and podcast Pastor Rick’s Daily Hope. His first book in a decade, Created to Dream, was released in April 2023.
For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!
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Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California with campuses in major cities around the world. He is the author of The Purpose Driven Life, which has been translated into 90 languages and sold more than 50 million copies in all formats. You can listen to his daily radio broadcast at PastorRick.com.
