Override with Peace

Philippians 4:6-7

Verse 7  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

    Before the list we talked about yesterday, Paul had told his friends that they needed to stop being anxious and start praying and in doing so they would find a peace that couldn’t be understood.  Most of us have heard about this peace that passes understanding, but do we really understand it and what we can do to help realize it?

    Anxiety can be one of the most common things we deal with in the western world.  We find many things to stress over.  Some of it is because we are busy trying to gain or keep control on various portions of our lives and sometimes it is because we don’t like being out of the loop of what is coming in our lives.

    Everything from, “What is the weather going to be” to “How am I going to pay the upcoming bills” have us running through every possible scenario we can come up with so that we can feel prepared no matter what happens.  What if we only had to have one scenario to anticipate?  Wouldn’t it be less stressful if we knew things were going to be OK?

    While we don’t know the details God is working on in the background, we should be able to trust that He knows what needs to be done and when.  Paul understood that and even when things were not as he would have liked, he knew he could trust that God knew what was going on.  Remember, he was in prison when he wrote this and that is a place most of us would feel anxiety.  It would have most of us questioning what was next.  Paul had a good idea that this was not just his present, but also his future and yet he had peace.

    Paul could have peace despite his location because he knew that when he was anxious it was proof that he wasn’t trusting God or having a thankful, praying heart.  He wanted his friends to know that same peace no matter what they were going through in Philippi.  The peace of Christ is what we find when we leave behind anxiety and turn instead to Christ, praying in thankfulness for all He has done.

Making It Personal

    How often do you find yourself being anxious?  Is there a certain thing you are often anxious about?  What do you need to do to find peace about that?

Making It Personal Kids

    How would you describe anxiety?  What kinds of things make you anxious?  What can you do so that you aren’t anxious?

Closing Prayer

    Father, thank You for this reminder that we can have Your peace if we choose not to be anxious but instead trust You.  There is no peace like Your peace.  In Jesus’ name, amen.