Are you tired of worry and fear stealing all your peace? Not that you live in worry and fear every moment of your life, but you have those moments. Someone says something that pushes your button, or you hear something that causes you to spin out of control. The apostle Paul gives us some great truth to help us deal with all worry and fear: “Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:6-7, NLT)
There is so much to encourage us in those two short verses, but there are two things in particular that jump out at me today to encourage me regarding God’s peace. First is the word “exceeds”, it’s a compound word in the original text that means to be way beyond anything we can measure, superior, incomparable, unsurpassed, unequaled, excels, surpasses, rises above, beyond any other kind of peace. According to this verse there is nothing in the entire world that can even compare to God’s peace. Yet, we search for peace in many different things.
The second word that jumps out at me regarding God’s peace in this verse is the word “guard”. The picture of our mind is like a control tower at an airport. The condition of our minds is the condition of our lives. When Paul says “His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus”, he gives us a picture of a military guard who never leaves his post. One who faithfully protects, monitors, no one or nothing can get by without their approval. Gods peace will faithfully guard our hearts and minds.
This means all the worries and fears of this world and all the garbage the enemy brings our way cannot have access to our minds and hearts when we allow Gods peace to rule. His peace keeps worry and fear at bay. His peace keeps our minds and hearts from spinning out of control.
In everything you face today let Gods peace dominate your heart and mind. Ask God to place His peace as the guard of your life this very moment and in every moment as fear and worry begin to attack. In prayer begin to declare that Gods peace is at work in your life and is dominating all of your thinking, ultimately determining the condition of your life.
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