Phillipians 4:4-7
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Please give me peace, please give me peace, please give me peace I found myself saying as I sat in the car today. I couldn't even quiet my mind to pray, or much less to listen, just to whine, oh please God please gimme gimme gimme, I NEED I NEED I NEED!!!!
And then when I finally just took a deep breath and forced myself to relax, here it comes. The thoughts, I think inspired by the Holy Spirit, "You know Steph, I'm not your fairy godmother, I am God. Peace is not something I am going to bibbity bobbity boo you over the head with, it's a choice." And I sit there in the car laughing at a completely innapropriate image of Jesus in a princess fairy godmother dress with a wand!!! Lol! I'm glad God has a sense of humor, and knows I really need a visual to be able to take things in, LOL, He knows me all to well!!!
So then, peace, it is a choice. I choose to accept his peace, with thanksgiving in my heart, rather than whine for it and expect it to just blast into me with some sort of supernatural tap on the head. I choose to beleive He has it all under control, and choose to relinquish my own desire to control over to Him, with a gracious attitude and a humble spirit. And when I do this, the peace comes to guard my heart, the peace that surpasses all understanding, the peace that only He can give, should I choose to recieve it.
Have you ever heard Joyce Meyer do her version of “gimme”? Pretty funny. But yeah, I’m with ya, girlfriend. I’m learning so much about faith – not from any book I’m reading or even from reading scripture or from deep prayer. But it’s like the Holy Spirit has taught me over the years that when my faith is truly in Him, I can rest and have peace even when things aren’t easy. I’m reading a book by John Piper that talks about the “faith in future grace”. But basically, it’s just talking about knowing deep inside that God’s got you, no matter what, so why worry? It just goes along with where the Holy Spirit has had me for the past few months or so. Resting in Him. Knowing He’s in control. Not having a need to beg him to do anything just because I want it my way. (well, except last week in church when I bawled my eyes out and begged him to save my dad so he can know Christ's love like I do)
ReplyDeleteI love verse 5. Let your gentleness be evident to all. If we are resting in him and having “faith in future grace” then our gentleness becomes evident. We don’t have to try – we just have to know that He’s got it all.