Devotional Thought of the Day:

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. ⁸ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:6-8 (NLT) 

In reading these words, if you didn’t know the background of the writer, you might think them naive.  You would think them the words of a dreamer, of somone whose head was in the clouds, hwo never experienced what you have suffered, or who lived in such unstable times as these.  How could he know of that which we are going through – the individual trauma, the trauma in our lives, mygoodness – they would have never had to vote between the two options we just had to, and then live with the results!

How could Paul write “don’t worry”?

How could He expect us to know peace?

How could expect us to only focus on the good stuff?

Maybe because he also wrote::

Yet we who have this spiritual treasure are like common clay pots, in order to show that the supreme power belongs to God, not to us. ⁸ We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair; ⁹ there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend; and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed. ¹⁰ At all times we carry in our mortal bodies the death of Jesus, so that his life also may be seen in our bodies.  2 Corinthians 4:7-10 (TEV) 

To put it bluntly, Paul knows our pain, and perhaps then some. He struggled physically, he had issues with his family, he had issues with those around him (they actually tried to kill him.), There was all sorts of reasins he could have anxiety, but he found instead peace.  He could have complained and griped (though without FB – the whole world wouldn’t see those gripes) but instead he was used by God to literally bring hope to millions upon millions.

His answer – know you are guarded – heart and mind in Christ’s peace.   Stay in prayer with Him, focus on the work He is doing, don’t let others drag you down.  I love these words, Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

There is only one way to accomplish this… to set our hearts and minds on Christ Jesus….to look to Him -for He is all those things…and as the hymn says, when you are there, looking and focusing on Him, “then the things of earth will grow strangely dim… in the light of His glory and grace…

So cry out to God – pray for His mercy, and know that it is yours…and rejoice!