One talk From our assembly today Peace of God Surpasses all Understanding Jehovah promises to give us peace (Philippians 14:6,7) verse 6 tells us not to be anxious, this is referring to our worries and insecurities, etc. verse 7 gives us the solution to our anxiety. It refers to the peace of God - which is the calmness we have because of our friendship with God. It is NOT something that comes from within us. It comes from God. This peace goes beyond what we can understand or anything we can come up with ourselves. Verse 6 also pointed out that prayers and supplication are needed, in other words, we HAVE to talk to Jehovah about our problems - this has to be a free flow of conversation. Doing so will bring us joy and happiness, it stabilizes us and calms us down. Jehovah provides a way out and gives us hope and confidence. 1 Peter 5:7 says to throw all your anxieties on him. But note what the next verse says, verse 8 - keep your senses and be watchful. Satan is determined to destroy our inner peace. Verse 8 refers to Satan as a roaring lion....a roaring lion can be very intimidating and may cause us to want to run scared in the opposite direction. He may not directly cause every one of our problems, but he takes advantage whenever he gets a chance. Satan wants to frighten us away from God. So when you hear that roar take your stand against him (1 Peter 5:9). Oppose satan, resist and fight him, Jehovah will make you firm and strong (1peter 5:10). Hold on tight for your life and do not let go of Jehovah. Satan can NOT pull you away from God, but he can cause you to run away from God, so stay tightly close to Jehovah. 3 things to help us regain/safeguard inner peace: 1. One thing that might cause us to run away from God is the inability to overcome deep seated feelings of guilt. These feelings may remind us that we are imperfect. We also might keep thinking back to some poor decision we have made. But Jehovah gives us help through the ransom sacrifice. (Philippians 14:6). How that sacrifice applies to us personally is that it is powerful enough to cover our sins. Dont lose hope, Jeremiah 29:11,12 assures us that Jehovah thinks of us very differently than we might think he does. Do we truly believe that Jehovah will really forgive us and restore us? Colossians 3:15 refers to the peace of Christ, which differs from the peace of God. The peace of Christ means becoming a disciple of Christ, accepting bible teachings, seeing Jesus as the empire and adopting Jesus and Jehovahs way of thinking. Our heart may tell us that we can not be forgiven, but they teach us differently. Jehovah is patient with us (2peter 3:9). So pray and beg that the peace of Jehovah and Christ rule in your heart. 2. Another thing that might cause us to run away from God is disappointment. In Psalm 73:14-16 Asaph talks about being troubled all day long and chastised, trying to understand but it was troubling to him - it didnt make sense to him. At some point Asaph started comparing himself to others, thinking that good things were happening to people less righteous than him. However in verse 17, he took action - he did something very wise, he entered the great sanctuary of God. He stayed loyal to God, he prayed and he worshipped and then he was able to understand. From this example we see that we need to go to Jehovah and pour out our hearts to him. 3. Anxieties may also cause us to run away from God. We can stir and stir on those anxieties forever and ever with nothing ever coming from it, without the proper ingredients. The needed ingredients are such things as our Christian meetings, association with our brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as our Christian publications, personal bible study, prayer, etc. Psalm 27:10 assumes us that even if everyone else abandons us, Jehovah will take us in. We must let Jehovahs wisdom in to the mix, we can research a particular problem we may be having and find scriptures to help us. One example of this is if we are grieving the death of a loved one we find comfort in the scripture found at Psalm 34:18 which says:Jehovah is close to the broken hearted; he saves those who are crushed in spirit. Philippians 4:8,9 points out things we need to keep flowing in our minds and hearts. If we put the right things in and give them time to take effect it will benefit both our heart and mind. Be careful not to isolate yourself when problems arise. Whoever isolated himself becomes self centered in their own thinking and they become illogical and will not obtain/maintain the peace of God. (Proverbs 18:1) we MUST establish a relationship with Jehovah or else we will be vulnerable to satans attacks. If we ever lose our peace we can regain it - Jehovah makes that provision for us. (Psalm 91:1)
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 23:15:59 +0000