If favorite books in the Bible can be judged by the amount of underlining, highlighting and note-taking, mine is Philippians.

The first thing I have underlined is v.1:6 -

Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it out to completion until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The note that I have in the margin reminds me that Paul was in prison when he wrote this - and still he wrote of peace and joy, surety and grace.

I am reminded that for the "remnant", persecution brings strength. There are places in this world where Christians are truly persecuted - tortured and killed; fired from their jobs. They watch their families tormented.

And still they praise our God. May we remember the persecuted church; pray for them daily - pray for strength and courage, pray that God will change the hearts of those to hate them. Pray that God will be glorified in all.