Many people in our ever changing world of conflict and crises suffer with the unwelcome invader of our peace, namely anxiety. Those who have inadvertently allowed this predator house room in their thoughts and mind, soon realise they have made space for this plunderer of our peace and sanity, to grow into a possible monster of fear!
Those who struggle may question: “Where was this unwelcome invader birthed?” Where indeed! If we, as Christians, are no different from the world in their anxieties, we have nothing to offer them! As we allow the Holy Spirit to take us on the journey to God’s peace in our hearts and minds, we discover that the peace of God is part of our birthright in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit is available to teach us all things in God’s word. As He reveals the truths written there, He will give us opportunities to apply them to our lives. Here we discover God really is who He says He is!
Let us review some of these life changing scriptures that, when embraced and applied in humility, will become a river of Life, resurrection Life to us.
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind” Learn to recognise the enemy of unbelief that attempts to argue against God having supreme control of my life. When adversity hits in circumstance, run into God and the sanctuary of His unchanging love and care. God has promised never to leave me, thus whatever befalls, He will strengthen me by His power and walk through the valley with me.
The lie that Satan whispers is that God has abandoned me. Learn to nail the lie and ruthlessly kick this pig out of my parlour! My first call should always be to the Lord and what His word says and promises. “I will never leave you, nor forsake you”, Hebrews 13:5. God’s word is greater than my feelings, which are deceitful. My warrant is the word of God and what He declares. God’s word is creative. When I choose to believe what He says, His miracle of creation takes place in my heart as He tunes it to worship Him in the midst of my trials and challenges of life……not for them, but IN them. Here I go deeper into God and discover His treasures in the dark places. As I place my gift of faith in God, a bedrock of foundational trust is established there to build upon.
Philippians 4:6 Here Paul instructs: “Be careful for nothing……” Whatever did he mean? Before we mention the rest of the verse and the crowning glory of the following one, let us first consider this once more:
There are three positions for the child of God: 1 Careful 2 Careless 3 Carefree
1 If I am careful, full of care, I can be over-burdened and anxious about things.
2 If I am careless, I have not taken my responsibility thoughtfully.
3 If I am carefree, I have taken my burden to the Lord Jesus and rolled it on to Him, our Burden Bearer. Jesus declared: “Come to Me all you who are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest….” As I trust God with my situations, I can experience a position of being carefree. This does not mean that I do not care, but that I am trusting God to meet me in on-going trials and challenges. I can walk in the birthright of God’s peace as I embrace the truth of His word. God’s word spoken to the apostle, Paul, is available to all who have entered into salvation: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” 2 Corinthians 12: 9 Paul took God at His word and proved Him, even to the point of embracing his infirmities seeing them as opportunities for the power of Christ to rest upon him, (verse 9).
Now we return to the scripture following Paul’s instruction to be careful for nothing……”…..but in everything in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”, Philippians 4:6-7.
The world is in turmoil searching for peace, looking in the wrong place for it, rejecting Jesus, the Prince of Peace. As Believers of Jesus Christ we can access His peace in our hearts, even in trials. The words Jesus spoke to His disciples also apply to us each day for us to embrace and trust: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, give I unto you. Do not let your heart be troubled, neither be afraid”, John 14:27.
Jesus knew our trouble spot is our heart. “Let not your heart be troubled….” Trouble is not in trouble when it arrives on the doorstep, it is in our attitude to trouble. That is why it is important to give the Lord Jesus pre-eminence in our hearts and minds. (again Philippians 4:7). Our spiritual hearts were created to bow to our Creator. If we keep them tuned to worship in adversity, instead of allowing them to wander, we will walk in our birthright of the good, displacing the bad and the ugly. When we forfeit God’s peace, we treat our Saviour and His valuable gift shabbily.
When we allow our hearts to be troubled, we forfeit God’s peace. This peace was purchased at the greatest price, through the greatest sacrifice of our beloved Saviour on Calvary’s cross. A heart that is out of order has fed on false information from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3), instead of embracing what God says. Romans 8:31 “…If God be for us, who can be against us?” Indeed! We are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us and gave himself for us.
Let us learn to develop sensitivity to the Holy Spirit when we experience that first ripple of the disturbance of God’s peace in our hearts. If we deal with the ripple and take note, run to the Father for guidance, then the ripple will not develop into a storm!
In the busyness of every day life, our hearts can be at rest, experiencing God’s gift of peace. Hebrews 4:9 declares there is a rest for the people of God. Jesus has made it available, it is my choice to embrace this truth and enter into it. Dear Lord Jesus, strengthen me to stay there, hidden in You, safe and secure from all alarm. Amen.
Photo by Jonathan Meyer on Unsplash
