Peace, sweet peace

Philippians 4: 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds   through Christ Jesus.


There are so many verses in Philippians 4 that speak to me, so many give me hope and promise.  Over and over God tells us that we are not to worry, 'be careful for nothing' means you don't have to worry about what is going to happen, God says "I've got this".  And when God's got it, there is no reason to fear.


We are to pray, bring Him our needs, our wants, our desires, our concerns and once we have brought them, we are to thank Him for what He will do. We are to trust that He will do it.  We are to live in the confidence that HE and HE alone is the answer.  If we trust Him, He will give us His peace.  But you can't have peace where this is conflict or anxiety. 


All He asks is that we trust him and He will give us the peace that passes all understanding.  You hear the voices of satan telling you that you can't do something?  Give it to Jesus, thank Him for the answer and God's peace will keep your heart and mind.  God knew that satan would play mind games with us.  He know that he would whisper lies to us.  God knew that satan will try to keep our hearts anxious and our minds fearful.


But if we trust God and take every need to him in prayer with thanksgiving, He will give us the peace that only He can give.  It is a peace that saturates us in love, calm and comfort.  It is a peace that draws a line in front of satan and saids 'MY Grace is sufficient, devil, you can't come here'.


Now you say, I've done that but it didn't last.  I thought that to but you know one, this isn't a one time deal, this is a daily, maybe an hourly exercise.  You see the devil doesn't just try once an if it doesn't work leave us alone.  He is relentless in his pursuit of trying destroy us.  We must be just as vigilant in our pursuit of seeking God and allowing God to protect us.


Our hearts and minds need His peace, without them we are vulnerable to the doubts and whispering that the devil does in our ear.  I love how things in the Bible tie together.  In Eph. 6:18 God tells us 'Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit'.  This is immediately after telling us to put on the whole armor of God.  Having almost the exact same words tied to verses that tell us how to preserve our minds tells me that it is important.  It is one of those points God wants to make sure we get.  It took me a while and I still slip back but I know that my life is only as good as my prayer life. 


I may have things but if I don't have power, I really have nothing.  Power comes from God, I need to be in constant contact with my commander.  He has the ability to send the rescue when needed.  He has the ability to put that army around me, around my family.  I need to talk to Him and allow Him to talk to me on a daily basis.