A Life Worthy

Tag: peace of God

  • One-a-Day Tuesday, 7/8/14

    number 1And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).

    Here’s the payoff.

    I told you yesterday that when you release your stress and worries to God he would give you something in return.  Well, here it is.

    Peace.

    Oh, so very much better than stress.

    So let’s break this down a bit…

    The peace of God It comes from him.  It is at his command.  You can’t manufacture it; you can’t go and find it.  It is his gift—another form of the grace by which you have been saved.

    Which transcends all understanding Like God’s grace, like his love for us, this peace makes no worldly sense.  Why should you have peace when your life is a teeming, steaming mess?  And yet like his grace, like his love, he gives us this priceless gift because it brings him pleasure and glory.  It’s one of those things I can never get my brain around, but I can get my heart around.  That’s enough.

    Will guard your hearts and your minds Stress is a dangerous thing.  It results from—and produces—a powerful need to control our circumstances.  Left to ourselves, this quest for control can lead us into a whole bucketful of sins.  Left to ourselves, the realization that we have no control can plunge us into despair.  So God sets his peace around you like a bodyguard, protecting you from the attacks of your enemies—those outside and inside.

    In Christ Jesus We only have peace because of the cross.  We are reconciled to God by and through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, and our peace is possible only through him and in him.

    Take his peace this morning.  Receive this gift that he offers.  I call it a gift, but it will cost you something.  It will cost you your façade of power, the cardboard cutout you call control.  Offer it up to him.  He’ll take it from you.  For you.

    Now.

    Release it to him, Beloved.  This illusion that you can manipulate your life, your circumstances, the people around you, it’s got you locked in a cycle of fruitless striving and perpetual despair.  Let God break the cycle—break you, if necessary.

    It will leave you feeling insanely, foolishly vulnerable.

    You will be safer than you have ever imagined.

  • One-a-Day Monday 7/7/14

    number 1I don’t know about you, but I could use another week of resting in Him.  So, since this is my blog…  

    Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, and with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  (Philippians 4:6).

    I can only do so much.

    Like we talked about last week, a huge part of our anxiety comes from the need to control our situation.  When circumstances, or people, are not working in the ways we want, and we aren’t able to change them, we get stressed.  Paul is reminding us here that we are not in control—that we will never be in control—but that we have a lifeline to the one who is.  Rather than relying on our own ability to manipulate our situation, we are called to take the things that worry us directly to God.

    Nothing too big.

    Nothing too small.

    But we need to do it with the right attitude, Beloved.  It’s not a list of demands.  It’s not a blueprint for our lives that we just need God to sign off on.  We are to come with thanksgiving, recognizing that he loves us, he wants the best for us, and he is more capable of knowing and doing what is best than we can ever think or imagine.

    I’m gonna let you in on a secret, just between the two of us.   This verse has often annoyed me.

    Yeah I know—just a touch of arrogance there.

    When I focus on the first part—Do not be anxious about anything—I get frustrated.  It’s like someone telling me, “Don’t think about squirrels.”  All that does is plant the picture of those fluffy little rats firmly in my brain.  Telling me not to worry only makes me worry more, because now I feel guilty and ungodly for worrying in the first place.

    Thanks a lot, Paul.

    But I find that if I focus on the second half of the verse—in everything…present your requests to God—things work a little better.  I do my part by bringing my worries to him, but then I let him do his part and be God, which, frankly, he is ever so much better at than I am.

    Though that’s tough to admit.

    What worries are holding you down today, Beloved?  I won’t tell you not to worry.  I will tell you that you have a really big, strong God who is waiting to hear all about it.  Go to him.  Release your stress to him.  He can handle it.  And he’s got something to give you in return, but we’ll talk about that tomorrow.

    Happy Monday, Beloved.