Philippians 4:4-9
"Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 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. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of Peace will be with you.
[Emphasis added]
Remember how last week we talked about God's Presence being Heaven? Well, one of the MANY wonderful side effects of His Presence is His Peace. Believe you me, God's Peace is something I, me, you and we should long for and need EVERY DAY! The glorious thing? As a Believer Jesus gave us His Peace as a gift. The sometimes-tricky thing? As with any gift, we have to receive it and unwrap it to actively enjoy it. Now, I am the first to admit that this daily intentional choice is often times a difficult one, but it is not impossible! Hallelujah that the Holy Spirit is with Christians to help us do the hard work we can't do in our own strength. As always, I encourage you to read the entire chapter because we zone in on select verses. In today's above verses, the Apostle Paul is actually addressing a disagreement between some members in the Philippian church and in doing so is not only reminding the Believers of the peace available to them but encouraging them by outlining practical and applicable steps to receive it. When we reference similar Scriptures, like 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 and Romans 12:12 it is clear that three core pillars are revealed for experiencing God's Peace:
REJOICE, PRAY, THANK GOD
1. REJOICE
Always be full of joy. Rejoice!
Let your consideration in all things be evident to all.
2. PRAY
Don’t worry about anything.
Pray about everything.
Tell God what you need.
3. THANK GOD
Thank Him for all He has done.
...THEN...
You will experience God’s Peace which exceeds anything you can understand. It guards your heart and mind as you live in Jesus (which is what those steps above and keeping your mind focused on Christ are all about). If you like, revisit September's post about right thinking by clicking here; reminding you to think on things that are:
True
Honorable
Right
Pure
Lovely
Admirable
Excellent
Worthy of Praise
Finally, know that daily choosing to continually apply these steps ensures that God's Peace is with you. Let me tell you Masterpiece that there is no thing and no one that can shake you, move you or rattle you when you walk in God's Peace. It is an all-encompassing 360-degree shalom Peace that wraps you in the extravagance of God's Presence. It truly passes all understanding and comprehension. As the old saints would say, "The world didn't give it and the world can't take it away." May you walk in God's Peace today, this week and every day in Jesus' Name. Amen, Amen and Amen🙏🏾!!!
Takeaways for you to remember:
#1 Rejoice!
#2 Pray!
#3 Thank God!
Yours in Christ!
Dr. Quahana
Want to enjoy some of the Scriptures inspiring this entry? [All Scripture listed is NLT version unless otherwise noted.]
References:
1. NAS Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries. The Lockman Foundation. 1998.
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