What Are You Reading? – God of Peace

Good morning and welcome to this week's Wow A Moment in the Word. Jacqueline here and I get the joy of sharing a scripture with you today and a little devotional thought. So I've been in Philippians and just this verse in particular, I've read it a million times as I'm sure you have too, but it really, these couple of verses just really stuck out to me just when I was reading the other day and I wanted to share what I was learning with you. So Philippians 4 verses 4 through 7, it says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So I saw a pattern as I looked at those couple of verses in how to fear not, how to cast off my anxiety, how to live at peace in things. I don't know about you. I do struggle some with just having anxious thoughts at times. Mine isn't so much fear as in fear of something's going to happen to me. Mine is more anxious thoughts on my to-do list or something to do with work or something to do with a relationship or something to do with what someone thinks of me or this, that, and the other. Those are my anxiety points, if you will. But some people do have fear of something happening. And so, as I was thinking through this, I was like, well, there's a way for all of us, obviously, to have peace in the midst of all of that. The peace of God. And so, as I was looking at that, verse 4 says, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice always. Again, I will say it. Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. So our first, I guess, prompt there would be to rejoice, to praise God in the midst of whatever's going on, in the midst of whatever fear we have or anxiety we have or concern we have, because we all have concerns. Rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. Find joy in Him. Praise Him. so that's one thing and then it says let your reasonableness be known to everyone this is where it says it the Lord is at hand and I stopped there for a moment and I was like yes the Lord is at hand he's there he's not going to leave me he's not going to leave you he is there in every situation, every concern, every anxious thought, any relationship, any job, any to-do list. That's where I get stressed, is having too many things there. The Lord is at hand. He is there. The Lord is at hand. And then it's a command, do not be anxious. Now, I could just stop there, because if we're commanded to do something, or in this case, to not do something, then we should obey that command and that is a command it is an imperative do not be anxious about some things no do not be anxious about anything but rather here we keep going with things that we can do to help us not to be anxious and have that peace of God but in everything by prayer and supplication so earnest fervent prayer like we talked about a couple weeks ago or last week I can't remember earnest prayer and asking supplication asking God so we go to him we ask him for his help um I don't know I shared this a long time ago but oftentimes I will if I'm just super stressed about things I will take a piece of paper and I'll draw a circle on it and make like a basically a bicycle tire with I'll put Jesus name in the middle and he's like the hub there the in the middle and then all these different lines going out that are the spokes of the wheel and I'll put Jesus in the middle. He's holding it all together. And then I write every concern that I have on that line. I call it my Jesus will. And I just then lay my hand on that thing after I've written every concern on that on that bicycle wheel. And I just say, Lord, Jesus, take the wheel. You have got this. This is for you. I am asking you to help me. And you know, there's never been a time when he hasn't come through for me. There's never been a time when I've asked him to help me or to figure something out or to work, um, work something out that he hasn't done that for, for my good and for his glory. So, um, ask him. And then it says prayer and supplication with what? With thanksgiving. So we've, we've had joy. We've rejoiced at the top and praised God. And then we're remembering that the Lord is at hand. He's doing it. And then we're not being anxious, but instead we're praying, we're asking, and we're thanking God. We're thanking him for his blessings. We're telling him how grateful we are that we have a God that hears us, that hears our concerns, that knows us, and that has come through for us so many times, protected us, preserved us, led us through something, helped us to endure. So with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God. And here it is, verse 7, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So that's where the peace of God comes from. All those things, that rejoicing, That remembering that the Lord is at hand, that committing to not be anxious, to tell ourselves to make a decision. I'm not going to be anxious about this thing. I'm not going to get stressed, but instead I'm going to pray and I'm going to thank God for that, for whatever's going on. I might use my Jesus will, like I said, or some, however, whatever works for you. But then the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds. It doesn't say it might. It says will. Will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And then I wasn't even going to go here, but let's just finish up with verses 8 and 9. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Think on those things that are worthy. What you have learned and received and heard from me, practice these things and the God of peace, God of peace will be with you. I hope that encourages you today. Hope it helps you in some way. And, you know, let's just remember that we rejoice. We rejoice. We remember that the Lord is at hand. We choose not to be anxious. We pray earnestly and we ask and we thank and then we receive that peace from God. I hope you have a wonderful week. Let me pray for us, and then we'll go on our Monday and have a fabulous week, I hope, and pray. God, thank you so much that your word is so living and active, that your word, that it just speaks to us in the moment that we need it. Father, thank you for that. Thank you for giving us a pattern for peace, for giving us a pattern where we don't have to live in anxious thoughts and in fear, but rather we can come to you remembering that you're there and that you will take good care of us, Father. God, this week I ask that you would help us to glorify you in every way that we can and help us to honor you and to turn to you and to depend on you. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Have a great week, we'll see you next time.

Originally published at warren.church.