Delivered to Peace
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
The panic button struck in my heart when I was on the phone with a friend. I heard her say something I realized I couldn’t confidently echo. She said, “Well, I know for sure I am not pregnant.” Panic button pushed.
My eyes grew wide. My breathing paused. As if I was reading a teleprompter the words “Uh-oh, have you missed something?” scrolled up through my mind. I thought, “No! I couldn’t be!”
Seven days later I had to face my denial. The results of 3 tests, taken over the course of 3 days, revealed that I was pregnant. For not the first or second time, but the fourth.
Like the ticker tape on the bottom of the CNN screen, questions of confusion and worry crept in. How would we afford another? How would I manage four? Where would he or she sleep? Our house was on the market. How would I move while I was pregnant? Why had I gotten rid of all our baby gear…just a few weeks earlier? But I just started to get healthy. Would I make it through a fourth C-section? The worries were non-stop.
It was as if a storm cloud of worry and anxiety took a permanent residence overshadowing my heart and mind.
Several months later, my husband and I had some friends over. We shared our concerns and prayed together. That night by praying with others, God blew away the storm cloud that hung over my head. I was released from feeling so oppressed by worry and anxiety. In that time of prayer, God birthed in me a peace about my pregnancy.
“Don’t worry [or be anxious] about anything [not one thing]; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard [keep secure] your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).
Biblical peace goes beyond the passive picture that often comes to mind. “The biblical concept of peace “means ‘to be complete’ or ‘to be sound.’ The verb conveys both a dynamic and a static meaning ‘to be complete or whole’ or ‘to live well.’ (Glenn E. Schaefer, Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology). Who doesn’t want that for their life?
In this verse, we find an equation that enables us to live well, to live soundly, free from worry and anxiety.
- Let Tell God everything you need.
- Live in God’s Express your thanks for what he has done.
When you let go of your worries and live in gratitude to him, you will experience an unexplainable peace. I don’t mean to oversimplify God’s peace, but our treasure verse is straightforward. Realize God is trustworthy and then trust him. When we release, we receive.
When we trust a trustworthy God in prayer, we find freedom from the disturbances of our concerns and are delivered into the corridors of his calm. Where anxiety would like to rent a room, his peace will take up a permanent residence.
Today, use the Lord’s Prayer to write your own prayer, Matthew 6:9-13.
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