DAY 28: PEACE IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES

In yesterday’s reading, we saw how worry and anxiety can be defeated through prayer. In the very next verse in Scripture (Philippians 4:7), Jesus tells us that when we’ve given our anxiety and our prayers to the Lord, we will receive the gift of peace: “and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

We receive the Lord’s peace when we pray. Literally, God’s peace descends upon us and takes action! It guards our hearts and our minds. Now maybe you’re thinking, Well, I lost my peace. No, you didn’t. Jesus keeps your peace. You can’t lose your peace if Jesus is keeping it, if He’s guarding it. Isaiah 26:3 says that God will, “keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in You.”

Live in prayer and you will live in peace! There will be quietness and confidence in our lives because instead of getting “worked up” over life’s problems we are choosing to “pray them down.”

When we continue reading in Philippians 4, we are given more advice for experiencing peace in all circumstances: “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Prayer not only gives us peace but it arms us with a conquering spirit, an overcoming spirit! We begin to believe again! We believe to trust the promises of God again! We begin to stand in the strength that is our God when we pray!

If you have never read the biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in its entirety, I would encourage you to do so.6 These three friends, who refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar’s idols, were sentenced to a fiery death. Facing a horrible fate, they stood in peace, placing their complete trust in Almighty God.

To the astonishment of the King, when he looked into the furnace, instead of three sets of ashes, he saw four living beings! Walking in that fire beside his faithful followers was the living presence of Jesus Himself! You see, Jesus doesn’t always keep us out of the fire, but He will always get in the fire with us. When we love and trust Him, God brings His presence and His peace to every area of our lives.