What is the peace of God? How would your life be different if you constantly walked in the very peace of God–where nothing flustered you or got you upset, and where you didn’t have to constantly battle the barrage of fiery darts from the wicked one? How would that affect your life? What would change about how you handle your life’s situations each day?
I’m going to let you in on a little-recognized process for peace: specifically, eight (8) keys to breaking through the storms of life! Turn to Philippians 4:4-8 and put your seatbelt on!
1 Rejoice!
“Rejoice in the Lord always…” (Philippians 4:4a)
Rejoicing is simply stirring up the joy that is already in you. God’s Word says that if you are born again you have within you that very joy (Romans 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is… righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”)
Let’s try an experiment… Put on the biggest smile on your face that you can (and keep it there), stand up, put your shoulders back, stand up as straight as you can, look up, and shout as loud as you can, “HALLELUJAH!” Try this several times. Now – how do you feel? Can you feel the difference? Let the action to your faith determine your feelings instead of letting your feelings dictate your actions!
2 Rejoice Some More!
“… and again I say, Rejoice.”” (Philippians 4:4b)
Wow! The Word says again to rejoice! I guess it must be pretty important for the Lord to have it in there twice! Do you think He’s trying to get our attention!?
Take a few minutes to read through Acts 16:19-26. Now picture this, here they are – they’ve been beaten, thrown into jail, had their feet put in stocks – certainly they had every reason to be upset. BUT, you’ll notice that they didn’t moan, groan, and complain and whine and cry… Instead, they chose to look at the good in their circumstances – that they had an AWESOME GOD!
Because this was their focus, at their midnight hour Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God. They were so bold about it that the other prisoners heard them all the way from the center of the prison.
What happened when they chose to focus on God and rejoice instead of looking at their circumstances? Then, SUDDENLY there was a great earthquake, and they were totally freed! And, notice that this was not your typical earthquake – no one was hurt, and everyone was freed!
3 Be Unflappable & Unshakable
“Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.” (Philippians 4:5)
What is moderation anyway? It is not reacting in the extreme to those things that come your way… In other words, not letting life shake you. As far as anyone looking on is concerned, nothing is wrong. The worst calamity in your life could be coming against you (like with Paul and Silas), but no one would be able to tell; because you’re just calm, steady, unshakable, and unflappable… And, instead, you are rejoicing! That means no murmuring or complaining!
We know that as Mark 11:22-24 says – we can have what we say… Just like in Hebrews 1:14, our speaking God’s Words will dispatch the angels on our behalf; on the other hand, speaking out our problems gives the devil permission to come against us further.
Jesus said in John 10:10 that the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But, He also tells us in Luke 10:19 that we have authority over the devil. Therefore, the devil can only stay against us in any given situation to the extent we give him permission. He can’t read your mind – he’s NOT GOD! So, the devil can only go by what he sees and hears.
When you’re letting your moderation be known unto all men, you’re putting up a front for the devil as well. If the devil can’t steal your joy, he can’t legally keep your goods. We need to choose to be unshakable – to not let life’s situations dictate how we proceed or act, and to not let it determine whether or not we walk in the joy of the Lord.
4 Don’t Be Anxious
“Be careful for nothing…” (Philippians 4:6)
The Amplified Translation says to be anxious for nothing. Anxiety is worry. We have a specific command here from God that, if we want peace, we cannot afford to worry or be anxious about anything. Truly, worry is a subtle lack of trust in God and His Word.
If we trust God to meet our every need and to bring us through any circumstance, we have no reason to worry no matter what comes our way. Looking back at Mark 11, we see that if we doubt God, we’ll doubt what we say. If we doubt what we say, we won’t have it. If we worry, we’ll speak out the problem and have more of the problem. If we choose, instead, to trust God, it frees Him up in our lives to move on our behalf.
Remember in Mark 6:5-6 that Jesus COULD do no mighty work because of unbelief (or lack of faith). Note that it doesn’t say that He wouldn’t – it says He couldn’t! So, we need to trust Him and His Word and not be anxious or worry.
5Pray
“… but in every thing by prayer…” (Philippians 4:6)
What is prayer? Communication with God. In His Word, He tells us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessa-lonians 5:17). He also says that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) and that He’s a friend that sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). What would happen if you spent the whole day with your very best friend – but didn’t speak to your friend all day long or even acknowledge your friend... How do you think your friend would feel?
Well, God is supposed to be our best friend. He has stated in His Word that He IS with us all day long – everywhere we go. He wants us to communicate with Him all day long. We won’t have peace unless we spend time with God and invest the time and effort to build that personal, intimate, eternal relationship with Him.
6 Supplicate
“… and supplication…” (Philippians 4:6)
A specific kind of prayer, or another way to communicate with God, is to supplicate. Supplication is merely praying for someone else. This is a truly unselfish form of prayer. It’s amazing – when we get our focus off of ourselves and focus on helping others, our problems seem so much smaller. So, unselfishness and reaching out for others is another key to peace.
7 Be Thankful
“… with thanksgiving…” (Philippians 4:6)
We can be thankful when we know that we have what we desire, right? That’s certainly something to be thankful for! Note in 1 John 5:14-15 that we can have confidence in God that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us and that we have the petitions we desired of Him. Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and the Word says in our key text in Philippians that we can have the peace of God. So, if it’s in His Word, it’s His will – and we can have what we ask for if we are thankful for it!
Psalm 69:30 says, “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.” When we are thankful, we magnify God. God doesn’t get any bigger. But, just like a magnifying glass makes things appear larger and helps us to see them more clearly, so does magnifying God.
When we are thankful, we begin to see God more clearly and see Him larger in our lives – larger by far than any problem or circumstance we may face!
God knows the power of thanksgiving to help us to have the right perspective in life. God is a GOOD God, and nothing is too big for Him to handle – we just have to see Him how He really is. As we are thankful to God for who He is, what He’s already done for us, and will do; then we begin to see that our problems are insignificant in comparison. That knowledge brings us even closer to that peace of God.
8Tell God What You Need – Speak It Out!
“… let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6)
This lines right up with Romans 10:8-10 where God’s Word says that His Word is near us and in our mouths and hearts. He says there that if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus and believe that we would be saved. What does the word “saved” mean? It’s from the Greek work “sozo” that means to be saved, delivered, blameless, healed, and made whole. Confession is made unto salvation. When we speak the Word of God, we are delivered, made blameless, healed, and made whole – that’s a great reason to be thankful!
