Philippians

Be Joyful In All Circumstances

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
God will complete what He starts-including you. His work may seem unfair, it may be painful, it may involve changes that cause you to question His goodness. But He knows what is necessary. And He will do it. (1:6).

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,  not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Those who affect us the most watch out for themselves the least. They notice
our needs and reach out to help, honestly concerned about our welfare. Their least-used words are "I", "me", "my", and "mine".
They're unselfish. (2:3-4)

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. God has called us to be in a spiritual growth pattern. Sometimes we're up, sometimes we're down. Sometimes we're more
victorious than other times. But the progress is a movement forward and higher. (3:13-14).

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Thoughts, positive or negative, grow stronger when fertilized with constant repetition. That may explain why so many who are gloomy stay in that mood, and why others who are cheery and enthusiastic, continue to be so, even in the midst of difficult circumstances. (4:8).

If our joy is based on daily circumstances, we might as well ship joy to the North Pole. If our joy is dependent on our circumstances, we will not have joy, because into every life comes pain, some suffering, some displeasure, some discomfort.
It will either be to hot or to cold. We'll be to confined. We'll be lonely. We will have lost something or someone very important.
We will have had people disappoint us and break our heart. We will have had our business go through downturns. We will trust people only to find that they ripped us off when they promised they wouldn't, and on and on.

If you want your circumstances to spawn your joy, forget it! Paul said, in essence, "in spite of my imprisonment, I know people are being strengthened in faith. I want to announce the reason I have joy: I have Christ. To me living is Christ. Dying simply means I get more of Him. The source of my joy, the secret to my joy is Jesus Christ". Paul couldn't separate the reality of living and the reality of Jesus. If our joy is in Jesus, our life withstands all obstacles. If our joy is in our circumstances, we are setting ourselves up for one disappointment after another.
Rev-Minister 
William Bowers