October 9, 2020: Rejoice in the Lord; Be Anxious For Nothing; Pray, and The Peace Of God Will Follow

Wow, that seems like a pretty simple statement to understand; Rejoice, Be Anxious for Nothing, Pray and then God's peace will follow. Let us look at the full content of the verse in Philippians:

Philippians 4: 4-7 (NKJV)

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Rejoicing in the Lord seems easy since we have much to be thankful for if we really think about it. But then comes the next verse: "Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand". Now this may be a little harder for many Christians to follow through on. To be gentle to all men, or people, can be difficult. Our nature tends to fall toward the "selfish side." Many people can be harsh and sometimes, just mean, and nasty. But look at what follow; "The Lord is at hand". Now that can make a bit of difference in how we react.

If you knew the Lord was standing right there besides you at every moment of your day, I am sure you would bite your tongue, and react with kindness, gentleness and more loving, as Christ would. Guess what, He is there with you every moment of every day. The Holy Spirt live within us and never leaves us.

And then the Apostle Paul follows through with..."Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;"

Now, God wants us to be "anxious for nothing", "Come on God, You just don't know this person I'm dealing with." Guess what, He does know, and He knows you as well. The very moment when we are faced with a difficult situation, we must take it immediately to God in prayer, ask for His guidance, and then thank Him for the situation, because we should know in our hearts, that He will take care of it, because it's no longer our life to hold on to, it's His, since we "surrendered" all to Him already, Right?

PERSONNAL COMMENT:

Now here is the best part. If we do all this, and know that we are "absolutely surrendered" to God in our hearts, here is what follows: "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Now there is a great promise from God we can trust in. If we let go of everything to Him, "rejoice always", "pray", and stop being anxious, then the peace of God will always follow.