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 (Philippians 4:6,7). At Bethel as we’ve dissected the Lord’s Prayer, we’ve recognized that to pray
give us today our daily bread is a declaration of recognition of dependence on the Lord; but it’s also an assertion of faith – trusting Him to provide whatever we need.
But, ours is an era of stress, and angst, and negative pressure, and nervous tension. Fear often results.
Almost nothing crushes
faith like uncontrolled
fear. And its ugly sister,
anxiety.
Paul’s verses above offer such practical advice for our frenetic 21
st century lives.
And the Lord extends a simple – bulletproof! – promise to ward off anxiousness.
It can be reduced to this equation: prayer + thanksgiving = peace + protection.
Think about the simplicity of the promise: our lives are to immersed in
prayer; we are to be ones who “pray without ceasing” (1Thessalonians 5:17). Our prayers are to be offered – and our lives lived – in a context of daily
thankfulness.
The promised result: we will experience God’s supernaturally transcendent
peace; and as an added benefit we will be
protected in our mind (against intellectual confusion) and our heart (against discouragement).
Is there a single Christ-follower today who doesn’t need to be reminded of – and to practice – this relevant, practical promise?
Takeaway: Lord, the requirements of this formula are easy to say, but disciplines I find so hard to live out. Please energize me by your Spirit to be
prayerful and
thankful. I want my life to be characterized by those occupations. I desperately want to --
need to -- experience Your peace.
~this blog edited from original post in March 2014.
...graphic by Supreet Vaid, freeimages.com
