Peace? At This Time? – Ask of God
Philippians 4:4-8
Paul challenges us to do four things and if we do these we’ll enjoy the peace of God. This week we’re looking at the second too Paul gives us – to ask.
- To celebrate and rejoice
- To ask
- Thanksgiving
- Meditation and spiritual discipline
In Philippians 4:5 the word gentleness in Greek means a temperament that is seasoned and mature, someone who is level headed, steady and calm and not lashing out at those around them, but how do we do this? Here are 2 things to remember that can help.
- The Lord is near
- There is never a time in life when we’re alone. God says this throughout the bible, with Abraham, Haggai, Joshua, David (even when he messed up), Elijah, then Jesus came as Emmanuel God with us and the Holy Spirit came to be with all believers and is with you at all times.
- We’re all facing challenges right now, but we don’t face those challenges alone. Because the Lord is near we can be anxious about nothing. Psalm 118:6.
- In John 6:5-6 the disciples are anxious and stressed out, but should they be? Shouldn’t they be more at peace, because Jesus is standing there with them and they’ve already see Him perform miracles.
- John 6:10-13, often like the disciples, when facing a problem we only see problems and that we can’t fix it ourselves and so we get anxious. The challenge is to think different, when facing a problem start with Jesus, start with his resources and remind yourself of when Jesus has provided in the past.
- Prayer and not despair
- Peace happens when people pray and in Philippians 4 different terms are referred to:
- Prayer means general devotion, worship, adoration, as general prayer
- Supplication suggests humility, recognising God’s sovereignty and offering our requests
- Request are specific asks and it’s praying for a particular problem and naming it
- Why are specific requests vital to prayer? A specific prayer is a serious prayer. When we pray specific requests God knows we’re serious. And a specific prayer is an opportunity to see God at work. When God answers a specific prayer then our faith grows. An example of an answer to a specific prayer request is in Genesis 24:12-14
- 1 Peter 5:7, the pathway to peace is paved with prayer, we will have fewer anxious thoughts the more you pray.
God is near, let’s turn to prayer and not despair.
The challenge this week is to act, and pray through these difficulties. As an example this is my plan for this week, SAS:
Specific – bring specific prays to God
Alarm – set an alarm to pray at 7:14pm everyday 1 Chronicles 7:14
Seeds – when we pray think we’re planting seeds, it’s not instant speed but seed speed