The grace of God was manifested by the Churches of Macedonia by their joy of giving during a time of great
affliction in their lives (II Corinthians 8:1-2)
God ordains trials in the lives of His people to reveal
His conquering love through them by His Spirit (Romans 5:3-5 cf. Romans 8:35-37)
The Churches of Macedonia implored Paul to receive their sacrificial gifts, which was preceded
bytheir giving themselves
to the Lord according to the will of God (II Corinthians 8:3-5)
Paul singled out the Philippian Church as the ONLY church
in their area which shared the burden of the Lord's work with Paul and he called it an "odour of a sweet smell,
a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God" (Philippians 4:15-18)
The Philippians were willing to give themselves to the
Lord, because the Lord gave Himself for them as a "sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour" (Ephesians 5:1-2)
God desiresour fellowship
with HimBEFOREour service for Him, because His enabling us to serve Him comes from our spending time with Him both in prayer (Philippians 4:6-7)
and in His Word concerning us (Philippians 4:8-9 cf. Colossians 3:15-16)
The ONLY offensive weapon of the believer is the "sword
of the Spirit", which is the intercessory prayer for the spiritual well-being of the saints (Ephesians 6:17-18)