Hi, and welcome to the Five Word Prayers Daily, a five day a week daily devotional where we share the word, prayers, and our heart.

I'm Lisa Whittle, and I welcome you to just five minutes with me, which I've never done this before, but I thought August was a great

month to focus on joy, and Philippians is all about that. We won't be able to dive into it deeply,

but more take verses and principles and springboard from there in practical ways to apply joy to our own life.

Now, I don't know about you, but August is not as joyful of a month for me. So hot, summer is coming to an end,

kids are going back to school, and I need some more joy. Really? I need joy all the time.

So today we're going to be talking about something unique that brings joy that maybe you know

when you experience it, but you don't think about it often. At least I don't. Think about this.

What happens when you're at odds with someone and then you make up

with them and come back together? It's a huge exhale, right? Might even say it brings you joy.

Let's get into it. So this week, we're in the first chapter of Philippians, four chapters in

the book, and four

weeks left in this month, so it works out perfect, I'd say. But this first chapter is really all

about joy and suffering, kind of the theme behind it. And remember, Paul's in prison, and we know

that it doesn't wind up being his last imprisonment, but he doesn't know that. He's awaiting trial when he writes this,

and it can really go either way. He can either be released or executed, and that's a pretty big

scale. But either way, he's finding joy, and I think that's really the key. We'll cover this

later in the month, but it's the joy no matter what in every circumstance,

and I have to tell you, I'm not there. My joy is quite contingent a lot of times upon

circumstance, which is why I think we study books like Philippians, to learn from Paul and let his

example in teaching soak in and pray to have what he had with God's help. I was just at a

funeral a few weeks ago and this, my dear friend, died of cancer. She had a long-running battle

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