Philippians 4:4-9 Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely; whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
What do you have to be anxious about? HA! Funny question right? Not really lately for most people I know. It seems as though everywhere I turn people are hurting like never before and they are struggling in ways that just don’t make sense. I am not a “demon under every rock” kind of person so I refuse to give Satan credit for everything going on in our lives, sometimes we just make poor choices or we suffer the consequences of other people’s poor choices, but whatever the case may be Paul’s advice is to calm down, stop being anxious, remember that the Lord is “at hand” in other words, He hasn’t gone anywhere, He is still here to help.
Notice he said, “in everything” in other words; if you are in a bad situation because you made a wrong decision then ask for forgiveness, thank God for His mercy and grace that abounds in our lives because of Jesus and thank Him that He is willing to help you grow from this experience and deliver you at the same time and then rest in the peace that no matter what happens at this point (it isn’t always going to be easy if you got yourself in this mess) He will deliver you and He will give you the peace you need today! Now, maybe you are in this situation and none of it really makes any sense at all, Bill and I have a few situations like that right now, just know that God sees what is going on and He will be there for you and He still has a plan. Other people’s bad choices are not able to stop the plan of God for your life – no one is that strong and neither are you! God will have the victory for the plan He has called you to if you just stick close to Him and allow Him to work.
It does you and your situation no good at all to be all worked up because then you will not get the things done you need to get done – God’s peace surpasses all understanding so it will allow you to make right choices in the midst of the stress, you will be able to think more clearly than you will if you are freaking out! It’s pretty hard to use someone who is freaked out and out of control for anything so allow God today to guard your heart and give you His peace so He can work through this situation and bring glory to His name in the process!
Now, the reason I used all of these verses is because; when you are stressed out and scared and people seem to have done you wrong what thoughts come to your mind? Ooooh yeah, ouch – “I’m going to pay them back, I hate them, I, I, I, I ……. stop for just a second – who’s got your back? God has your back so let Him “have revenge” let Him discipline and allow Him to take you to another level spiritually by resting in Him knowing that He loves you, He has a plan and He will open doors that you might not see if you are focused on the wrong things. Finally ladies; “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely; whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Practice these things and the God of peace will be with you!
Pray for God to bind Satan in your circumstances because there are times that it is his fault! He is constantly working against you so we do always want to be sure that God stops him from causing havoc in our lives. Live out your testimony today and ask God to move in a mighty way in your circumstances so that He gets total glory from the turnout! Ask for miracles today – why not? “You have not because you ask not” so ask away, what can it hurt! Ask God for His peace today and guard your heart and mind by choosing your thoughts carefully – your thoughts are your choice and so is your attitude so don’t wear someone else’s.
Quote: “If one door closes, keep the right attitude, and God will open another door. Keep pressing forward.” Joel Osteen
Janet, Again you have written something so important and NEEDED by this child-of-God! These last few days I have been “attacked” in my thoughts over my own “bad choices” ( even from some 40 or so years ago!) and other peoples choices also, which have affected not only myself, but my son and daughter, and now, grandchildren…So thank you for the reminder of ALL which you wrote! You are INDEED a BLESSING in your writing and life…don’t ever allow the enemy try to make you believe you are not reaching people with His Love!