Prayer and Care

"Carefulness and prayer cannot stand together. In every thing - great and small - let your requests be made known. They who by a preposterous shame or distrustful modesty, cover, stifle, or keep in their desires, as if they were either too small or too great, must be racked with care; from which they are entirely delivered, who pour them out with a free and filial confidence."

John Wesley on Philippians 4:6

I Rejoice; Rejoice Ye!

Alexander MacLaren  on Philippians 4:4 from Expositions of Holy Scripture:

"It has been well said that this whole epistle may be summed up in two short sentences: ‘I rejoice’; ‘Rejoice ye!’ The word and the thing crop up in every chapter, like some hidden brook, ever and anon sparkling out into the sunshine from beneath the shadows. This continual refrain of gladness is all the more remarkable if we remember the Apostle’s circumstances. The letter shows him to us as a prisoner, dependent on Christian charity for a living, having no man like-minded to cheer his solitude; uncertain as to ‘how it shall be with me,’ and obliged to contemplate the possibility of being ‘offered,’ or poured out as a libation, ‘on the sacrifice and service of your faith.’ Yet out of all the darkness his clear notes ring jubilant; and this sunny epistle comes from the pen of a prisoner who did not know but that to-morrow he might be a martyr."

A Love that Rejoices

"Paul wants [the Philippian church] to join him in cruciformity—to follow the One who laid down his life for the spiritual benefit of to others by likewise laying down their lives for the spiritual benefit of others. This is a love that rejoices in what is best for others... This kind of love will not result in selfish behavior that sinfully exploits others but produces “sincerity and blamelessness for the day of Christ” (Phil. 1:10). This kind of love will fill the Philippians “with the fruit of the righteousness that is through Jesus the messiah, for the glory and praise of God” (Phil. 1:11). God will be glorified when the Philippians live this way because mercy and love condemn selfishness and hate -salvation coming through discerning judgment for God’s glory." - James Hamilton, God's Glory in Salvation through Judgement.

This kind of Christian love wants the best for others for the glory of God.