Philippians 4 6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Peace that transcends understanding will guard our hearts and minds.
This passage says we don’t have to be anxious about anything because we bring everything before God as a petition… but don’t skip over this word - with thanksgiving. Gratitude - giving thanks. In other words - equally bring our needs and our gratitude to God, to receive transcendent Peace. This time from the message Bible.
Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.
What would it look like if we shaped our worries into prayers? Instead of spending too much time processing how we’re going to get through something or how we’re going to fix something, we start with bringing that as a prayer before God. If we do that, this passage promises we will know a sense of God’s wholeness, that everything will come together for good, which will settle us down.
What is one worry in your life that you need transcendent Peace with, that doesn’t seem possible?
No matter what happens, no matter what lays before us, if we start the discipline of turning our worries into prayers, we can experience a sense of God wholeness, which displaces worry as the central theme of our life.
PRAY:
Lord Jesus, we celebrate that holy moment when Your coming as man renewed our hearts. Excite in me a hunger for peace: peace in the world, peace in my home, peace in myself. Peace that only You can bring. Immanuel, God with us. Amen