Continued from yesterday…
3. Philippians 4:6-7 (Overcoming Worry)
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.
The greatest way to overcome worry, anxiety, and all-out fear is a consistent and constant prayer life. It's quite simple really. If you’re in constant communication with the God of peace, patience, and freedom, there is no room for worry, anxiety, or fear. Everything is placed in his hands, complete with your thankfulness for faithfulness. It's not that we won’t experience the dark valleys of life- deaths of people or unpaid bills or cancer or a stubbed toe or lost job or a million other things. But it means we face those things with the lover of our soul standing side by side with us. This Jesus who told us we would face troubles, but to take heart for He has already overcome the world and its petty issues (John 16:33). You can have His peace not only in the world to come…but in the one today!
4. Jeremiah 33:3 (Spiritual Knowledge and Maturity)
Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.
Have you ever been in meditation and wondered about the great mysteries of God. About who God is and how He operates. About the significance of Jesus stepping out of heaven and wandering homeless on the earth. About what life is and the purpose behind it. About inner peace and a clear conscience and a pure heart. About how we must die to live and live to die. About how we become the best by becoming the least. I have…and still do.
And the answers lie in God. And in this verse John shared, God’s offering to enlighten us to things we consider “great and unsearchable.” Why is it then that myself and others say something along the lines of, “Some things we’ll just never know” or “we’ll know it all once we get to heaven.” Is it a lack of faith that has us relating such fallacies or is it perhaps because we haven’t taken the time to call to him with such profound inquiries? Maybe both. But here again is God telling us, “Call me. Ask me anything. Anything! And I’ll tell you.” God may be mysterious, but he’s not secretive.
Back to the bottom line: All of these references, observations, and devotions don’t mean anything unless we APPLY them to our lives. So, I, like John and Jason before me, challenge you not only to read these verses, but pray and apply them. And watch in wonder as a world you never thought possible…is.
