Philippians 4:12

²⁹Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls.

⁷By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively. ⁸Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. ⁹He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.

¹⁰Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.

²⁷in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.

⁹When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn’t a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so.

⁴but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God: in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, ⁵in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings, ⁶in pureness, in knowledge, in perseverance, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, ⁷in the word of truth, in the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, ⁸by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, ⁹as unknown and yet well known, as dying and behold—we live, as punished and not killed, ¹⁰as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.

¹⁰He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.

¹¹For the LORD spoke this to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

⁹For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. ¹¹Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. ¹²We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. ¹³Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.

¹Now I Paul, myself, entreat you by the humility and gentleness of Christ, I who in your presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.

⁷Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you God’s Good News free of charge?