Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Celebration”
Our Bible verse for today: “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Trusting all things to God in prayer frees us to live with joy.”
Richard Foster once wrote, “The decision to set the mind on the higher things of life is an act of the will. That is why celebration is a discipline.” That’s the point Paul was making in Philipppians 4:6-7. When we trust all things to God in prayer we are affirming that we are relying entirely on Him for all our needs – especially for the most pressing ones. That then frees us from excessive worry and despair and paves the way for a spirit of carefree celebration.
Now realistically, that doesn’t mean that our problems will magically disappear just because we prayed about them or that we’re no longer concerned about the outcome. Paul wasn’t advocating an “ignorance is bliss” approach to life and he wasn’t calling for us to pretend that problems don’t exist. His point was that the more we learn to commit all things to the Lord and to rely on Him – really trusting Him – the more we will experience the settled peace of God deep within our hearts, even as we continue to navigate the current difficult circumstances.
Foster offers some practical advice along these lines: “But if we fill our lives with simple good things and constantly thank God for them, we will be joyful, that is, full of joy. And what about our problems? When we determine to dwell on the good and excellent things in life, we will be so full of those things that they will tend to swallow our problems.”
Paul went on in the passage above and in verse eight he said, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable – if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise – dwell on these things.”
Maintaining a sense of joy and a spirit of celebration is largely a matter of what we choose to allow our mind to dwell on. Fill your life with simple good things – godly things – and dwell on them. Then trust the rest to God.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 