Philippians 1

₁I, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, am writing this letter to all God's people in Philippi, all of you who belong to Christ Jesus. I am also writing to you, the deacons and elders. Timothy, a servant of Christ Jesus, is writing this letter with me. ₂I pray that God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ will be merciful to you and give you peace.

₃Every time I think of you, I thank my God. ₄Every time I pray for all of you, it makes me happy ₅because from the first time that they told you the Good_News until now, you have helped me to tell that message to other people.

₆God has started doing something good in your hearts and I am sure that He will not stop until the day when Christ Jesus comes back and finishes it. ₇It is right that I think about all of you like this because I love you. You always think of me and you know how good God is to me while I am a prisoner. I can tell the people here the Good_News which is right and true. ₈God knows how much I long for you all. He knows that I love you as Christ loves you.

₉I pray that your love for Christ will become more and more so that you will understand everything better and so that you will know ₁₀the right things to do. Then your hearts will be completely pure when Christ comes again and no one will be able to accuse you. ₁₁Yes, Jesus Christ will help you do a lot of good things and that is how you will glorify the name of God and serve Him.

₁₂Friends, I want you to know that everything that has happened to me has helped more people to hear the Good_News. ₁₃All of the guards of Caesar and the other people know that I am a prisoner because I belong to Christ. ₁₄Most of the believers now believe even more in the Lord, because someone has told them that I am a prisoner. They have become braver and are not afraid to preach the message of God to other people.

₁₅Some people preach the message of Christ because they are jealous and because they want to argue with others. Other people preach about Christ because they want to help. ₁₆They preach because they love Christ and they know that I am in prison because I say that the Good_News of Christ is right. ₁₇But other people preach about Christ because they are selfish. The reason that they preach is wrong. They are false. They want me to suffer even more while I am in prison. ₁₈Some people are false when they preach and some people want to help when they preach. But it does not_matter why they preach. They all preach about Christ and that makes me happy and I will rejoice.

Yes, I will rejoice ₁₉because you are praying for me and the Spirit_of_Jesus Christ helps me. I know that God will use everything that happens to me to save me. ₂₀I hope and I am sure that God will help me and that He will never leave me. Yes, as I have done up to now, I always want to show that Christ is the most important. That is why it does not_matter to me if I live or die.

₂₁If I live, I live for Christ and if I die, it will be even better for me. ₂₂I don't know what I must choose. If I keep on living, I can help people and do good things for them, ₂₃but I would like to die and be with Christ, because that would be the best. It is really hard for me to choose if I must keep on living or if I must die. ₂₄But it is important for you that I should live. ₂₅Yes, I am sure that I will live and that I will be with you all again so that your faith can grow and that you can rejoice because you believe in the Lord. ₂₆Then when I visit you again, you will keep on praising Christ Jesus because of me.

₂₇The most important of all is that you must live in a way that is good for people who believe the Good_News about Christ. You must work together, you must do and believe the same things. Do it so that other people can believe the Good_News. You must do this if I come to see you or if I don't come, but hear from other people what you are doing. ₂₈Don't be afraid of your enemies. If you are not afraid of them, it will show them that God will punish them but He will save you. ₂₉God is good to you. He gave you faith in Christ and He has blessed you even more. He also let you suffer because you belong to Christ. ₃₀You have seen and you hear how I suffer, and now you are suffering with me.