Peace Formula

Philippians 4: ⁶ Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. ⁷ 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. Paul writes to the church in Philippi with some instructions about living their faith walk, and it almost seems like a formula that he knew firsthand, because it was that very thing. Paul tells them not to worry about anything....ANYTHING? Yes, anything. How is that done? We can learn how Paul got to this statement when we look at his letter to the Thessalonians, and he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Never stop praying. ¹⁸ Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

It seems there is a theme of Joy+praying+thankfulness+God's will = peace. In the above scripture in Philippians, Paul tells us not worry about anything, but instead, pray about everything. I think the word "bliss" is pertinent to the conversation here and the definition of the word bliss helps to nail it down. Bliss (def) - a state of absolute, perfect happiness, intense joy, and deep contentment. Jesus further helps us realize where this bliss comes from in John 10: 1⁰ The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. Satan is also exposed here as the one trying to steal our joy, our peace, and destroy us. When we live in the direction of the Holy Spirit, our prayers are changed as we ask the Holy Spirit to fill us, empower us, and give us peace. The peace we need is a Godly peace, and that is not a "pie in the sky" peace; it is God-induced and God-supplied peace, so the formula is God's formula, which makes it perfect.

The danger of not reading God's Word is that we miss the formula, and the deep truth doesn't permeate our hearts like it needs to. We see the result of this formula working in the above verse, Philippians 4:7: 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. There is more peace that God wants to accomplish for each of us in our faith walk, and God's Word says the result of that peace is a guard over our hearts. God sees the beginning and the result from this peace that He gives us. There is His purpose intertwined into this truth, so heed the warnings and work the formula, and you will be led to choose more Spiritual ways of dealing with other areas of life. I will be writing and taking this further down the road to help us all see those other areas that God will help us with, so our faith walk is strong and continues to move forward.

Trust God and trust His Word because perfect truth is waiting to flood your spirit every time you open His Word and He takes you deeper. The Bible calls these great truths "mysteries," and it also tells us we will see the depth and answers to life from the answering of those mysteries. This great adventure and walk through the Word of God explains everything we need to live our lives and move forward in our faith walk. The following verses in 2 Peter say a lot about this subject, so read it and absorb the truth and the peace formula will come alive in your Spirit.

2 Peter 1: ² May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. ³ By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. ⁴ And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. ⁵ In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, ⁶ and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, ⁷ and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. ⁸ The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

NUFF SAID!!

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren