Philippians 4:6-9 NKJV – “ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”
When I first started learning to drive, I was incredibly afraid of making mistakes. Mistakes can mean expensive fees – or even worse – injury and death. To combat this fear, I prayed before each driving lesson and played calming worship music while in the car. To my surprise, the prayer and worship did not eliminate the fear I experienced every session.
The fear was so overwhelming that I literally froze at a green light, unable to bear the thought of entering an intersection with other cars. But before my fourth driving lesson, I prayed a very simple prayer: “Lord, give me Your peace which supasses all understanding (Phillippians 4:6-7).” For the next 2 hours, I drove with the peace that only God can provide.
Later that evening, I wondered what made that lesson different. Obviously, the peace of God was available to me during my first few lessons so why was I scared? Then it dawned on me; Just because God made peace available to me does not mean I chose to walk in it. Instead, I chose to fix my mind on all that could go wrong which is completely contrary to the word of God in Phillippians 4:8-9. Fixating my thoughts on the ways my car could crash caused me to worry which turned to paralyzing fear.
How often do we do this? We might choose to walk in fear even though peace is available to us. Or maybe we choose to walk in guilt and shame rather than accept God’s grace and mercy. Maybe we choose to walk in bondage to sin even though Christ has made freedom readily available to us.
The truth is God has made all our heart’s needs available to us through Him: salvation, peace, joy, hope, love, faith and a sound mind. All are available but we have to make a conscious decision everyday to walk in these gifts by setting our minds and hearts on Him. We can do this through prayer, reading His word, and worship. But even so all of those efforts can be negated if we don’t pay attention to our thoughts. This looks like bringing our worries to God in prayer, but taking them with us after the Amen. Rather than do that; leave them in His hands! Exchange your worries and fears for His promises.
God tells us to meditate on His word. Meditate means to think deeply about. How intentional are you with your thinking? In what areas of your life are you not receiving peace? Today make a conscious effort to meditate on His words.
PRAYER: God help me to walk in the freedom, peace, joy, faith, hope, love and [name anything else you need help to walk in] that you have given me. Help me to control my thoughts so that I will not overthink my way out of these gifts but rather, I will set my thoughts only on what is good and true according to Your word. In Jesus’ name, Amen.