Verses for the day
Phil 4:6-7 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.
Story
In his message titled, “Peace in Turmoil,” Charles Price said, “Often we define peace as the absence of conflict. But that isn’t the kind of peace Paul’s talking about here. This is a peace in the midst of conflict. Paul was writing out of his own experience.” He had learned to find peace in the midst of turmoil. Paul describes his trials in 2 Cor 11:23-27. That’s quite a list. But he said in Phil 4:10-13 that he learned to be content in every situation. How? “I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Phil 4:10)
The peace that passes understanding is that rest in the midst of turmoil and trouble and trauma. Through Paul, God says, “Don’t be anxious,” but in everything he says, that is in everything that might make you anxious, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. When we do, Paul promises us that the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Instead of being anxious, thank God, and pray about it.
Thank him for the problems? No! Thanking him for himself in the problem. Thanking him for his presence, his sufficiency, his wisdom, his power in the situation. That is where the peace which passes understanding, comes from. When we commit the situation to God, believe He can handle it, and rest in His omniscient, omnipotence and love, the result, he says, will be that this peace guards your hearts and your minds in Christ. Putting it crudely, this peace comes in passing the buck to somebody bigger, giving the buck to God and saying, God, this is your situation. Thank you that you’re capable within it to bring about your purposes.
Application
With everything that is going on right now, it’s important to keep in mind that you can’t control what’s happening to you. But you can control what’s happening in you. And what I’ve learned to do says Paul, is to bring Jesus Christ in to every situation!
Charles Price said, “You are not what you think you are, what you think, you are! We are what we think. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he” Prov 23:7 (KJV). You have got to change your thinking, so that every day you’re saying Lord Jesus, in every part of my life today, I want you to reign.
Today I am praying for your thinking, that you will arm yourselves with the belt of truth!
Eph 6:13-14 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14a Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,
Tozer said, “More than anything else, more even than sin, wrong thoughts about you sap the foundations of my spiritual life, and grieve your heart of love.” In the place of wrong thinking, I pray that you will fill your thoughts with truth and right thinking about God today.
I pray that you will Know these truths.
- Trials are God’s grace for you today—1 Peter 5:10-12
- God takes ownership of EVERYTHING in your life like he did for Job in Job 2:3, and Joseph in Ps 105:17-19
Job 2:3 – He has maintained his integrity even though YOU urged ME to harm him without cause
Psalm 105:17-19- He (God) sent someone to Egypt ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They bruised his feet with fetters and placed his neck in an iron collar, until the time came to fulfill his dreams, the Lord tested Joseph’s character.
I pray that you will reckon / Count on these truths about God’s purposes in your life:
- Gen 1:26—God created you in His image
- Rom 8:28-29— Everything He does in your life (Ps 25:10) is for your good and his glory. The good He is working (Phil 1:6) is the conforming you to His image
- 1 Peter 5:10 Suffering enables you to partake in His glory
- 1 Peter 1:6-8 Suffering purifies your faith like fire does to gold
- Rom 5:3-5 Trials teach endurance, build your character, strengthen your confident hope, and bring you to see God’s love in new ways
- Job 42:3 Trials help you to experience God more deeply, not just know about Him.
I pray that you will Yield yourselves to God and rest in His plans.
- James 1:2-4 I pray that instead of seeking the absence of conflict, that you will consider it joy, because of the greater reward of what God has in store.
- 1 Peter 2:23, Heb 12:5 I pray that in the same way that Jesus was able to commit his case to the hands of God, and endured, for the joy set before Him, that you will be able to follow in His steps. ( 1 Peter 2:21)
- 1 Peter 1:7-8 I pray that, instead of focusing on these trials that you will be able to believe there is wonderful joy ahead, that through these trials, it will bring much praise and glory from God. I pray that instead of becoming bitter and angry, it will cause you to love God even more (1 Peter 1:8) when you focus on what He is doing.