Reflections on Philippians 4 My goodness, the power of one single thought, one notion, one negative, one assumption, one good thought, one bad thought. It takes a millisecond for your brain to perceive it, then bam there it is. Then it begins its work of either blessing or cursing your life and those around you. There is a reason why we should be pursing Gods word, I just saw something in scripture that I dont think I ever really took in fully before. I am told to Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Ok that’s not easy to do. I mean honestly, it’s incredibly hard when so many things are going wrong, but there must be great value in this act. It then says, 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ( Reasonableness means to be governed by or being in accordance with reason or sound thinking), so that means even when everything feels completely out of sorts, when I am lonely, scared, frustrated, hurt, at my wits end, I am to act with sound reason and confidence, rejoicing in the midst of trial, the Lord is at hand. The Lord is at hand (stop and say that out loud) … He is present, he is with me, he is working on my behalf. It goes onto say: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. So what of these requesting things of God, what falls under the things we can request? Does this mean we will always get what we want? Well it says don’t be anxious about anything, so I think that means we can take everything to God. We can have faith and trust that the Lord is at hand, and will intervene in the best possible ways for us. Truth be told I don’t often get things I ask for exactly how my flesh wants it, but God ALWAYS inserts his power and love into each request and as I submit to His will, He indeed works it all out in His time, in His way, for my good. So here is the surprising part for me today, something I never really took in before … The next part of this scripture is the results we can expect when all of the above things are done … And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (In CHRIST no apart from him) This act of obedience, of trusting, of letting God do what only he can do, and trusting that he is at hand produces a spiritual act of peace. And not only will that peace guard my heart, but also my mind. Wow …. The mind part just captured me. My mind, that place where these millisecond thoughts birth and are inserted by my enemy, that quiet place, than nobody wants to talk about. The place where sin is born, feelings are hurt, thoughts are assaulted, but also the place where love is perceived, hope is born, truth can reside, the mind that in Isaiah we are promised “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Isa 26:3 Perfect peace … perfect abiding, float down the river, dance in the rain, rest on the porch, quiet in the mind, rest in the night peace, washing right over all the trials, whisper winds, warm tea, quiet walks … peace. That’s what I needed today. Thank you Lord for being at hand with me today. What is required of me is to trust, to remain reasonable, to give thanks, to position myself to feel the Lord at hand, to set my mind on Him. I think for me this is a moment by moment act and I am thankful for God’s word reminding me, teaching me, being a living thing that can divide my heart and soul.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Jun 2014 17:48:57 +0000
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