PRAYER - Brings The Peace of God

Peace of heart and mind is a rare commodity in this troubled world we live in. The PROMISE for this week is preceded by requirements, which must be met before we can “experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.”
The first requirement is something most of us have a problem with, namely, Don’t worry about anything. If our scripture passage stopped here we would be in trouble, but it goes on to tell us how not worrying is possible.

Prayer is the answer! Instead of worrying, we need to pray about everything. That is something all of us are able to do. It’s just a matter of taking the time to do it. So often we try to fix things ourselves – we try this and we try that without success, and our worry grows. The answer is to pray about everything. We need to be talking to God about everything that goes on in our lives, not only the big and weighty things, but also the simple and seemingly insignificant.

Our scripture instructs us to Tell God what you need. Our prayers need to be more precise than just “Lord bless this and Lord bless that.” We honor God when we clearly name what we feel our needs are, and it also helps us to know when our prayer is answered.
Our worry usually stems from an unmet need. God knows what we need before we ask, we are not telling Him something new. But it’s for our own spiritual benefit that He requires us to tell Him what we need. It helps us be reminded on whom we are truly dependent, and He is the one who supplies all our needs in Christ Jesus.

Not only do we need to tell God everything we need but we also must thank him for all he has done. God has done so much that we are aware of and infinitely more we know nothing about, and everything He does is good! We need to thank Him for it all. Like the old hymn says “Count your many blessings, see what God has done.” We must not take any of God’s gifts for granted. An ungrateful heart will not be a heart at peace.

As we pray about everything, clearly telling God what we need, thanking Him for all He has already done, we will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. A peace so deep and profound we can’t begin to comprehend it. While we are not able to get our human minds around it - we not only can experience God’s peace, we will experience it!! We can’t understand it, but we are able to sense the calm quiet rest with which it fills our entire being.

Furthermore, God’s peace will guard our hearts and minds as we live in Christ Jesus. The word “guard” literally is “garrison” a military metaphor. God’s peace - like garrisons of divine soldiers will surround our hearts and minds and keeps worry and fear out as we live in Christ Jesus! How blessed we are!!






Let’s Pray:
Thank you Father, for having made every provision for our lives to be filled with your peace.
Please forgive us for not always praying about everything and instead end up worrying.
“O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!"(a)
Help us Lord to pray without ceasing. Post your guards around our hearts and minds so we will always experience your peace!
Amen






Footnote: (a) Joseph Scriven,



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