Words in the Wind

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Job 32:9  Great men are not always wise, Nor do the aged always understand justice.

I was 24 years old when I walked the aisle of Calvary Baptist Church in Simms, Texas, and took the outstretched hand of Pastor Harold Churchill. I told him I felt the Lord was calling me to preach. He smiled an encouraging smile and then informed the congregation before leading them all in prayer for me.

This set things in motion and before long I became the pastor of a new Church about 4 miles down the highway. Fortunately the Lord had been preparing me, even without me knowing it. However, except for the children, I was the youngest member of the Church.

Being younger than the group you are trying to influence can have its particular challenges. For people to trust you, you must first trust yourself. If you don’t think you know what you’re talking about, no one else will either. All of your counsel will be just like words in the wind.

If what you are saying doesn’t move you, it won’t move others. If what you teach does not burn in you, it won’t burn in anyone who hears you. It can be difficult to convince others when you’re not confident yourself. And, being the youngest player on the team, even when you’re the captain of the team, can make it harder.

After that first day, I did not wrestle with my calling, but my calling did not make me smart. Over and over I found myself to be the youngest and least experienced person in the room and yet, I was the one everybody was looking to for leadership. This is most often when God steps in.

One of my favorite prophets in the Bible is Jeremiah. Jeremiah had similar feelings about himself as did I and several other men and women God has used dynamically in the past. Jeremiah was a contemporary prophet with Ezekiel and Daniel. Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem when Ezekiel and Daniel were taken captive to Babylon. Daniel read and was inspired by the words of Jeremiah. (Daniel 9)

One of the best decisions I ever made was early on in my walk with God. I decided I was going to read the Bible and know the characters so that I could tell the stories to my children and my children’s children. The Bible is filled with such wonderful stories, and they teach so many powerful principles for life. Reading the Bible and telling the stories is still one of my favorite pastimes and as I said, Jeremiah is one of my favorite prophets.

The best I can figure from my studies is that Jeremiah was 21 years old he began to publicly prophesy and protest against the sins of the nation. At that time the current King, Josiah, had already been ruling for 13 years and presumably knew a whole lot more than the seemingly young religious idealists Jeremiah.

Let me tell you from experience, both mine and Noah’s, and even Jesus’: It’s not easy, nor is it popular, to try and tell a group of people they are wrong and they need to get right with God. Many who were just trying to help have been beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and killed for simply preaching the Good News which sets the captives free.

The prophet Jeremiah spent his whole life being persecuted and he was only trying to help. Where did he get the strength to stand up and keep going under such pressure? Let’s read the introduction to the book of:

Jeremiah 1 NKJV

1 ¶  The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,

2  to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.

3  It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

4 ¶  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying:

5  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

6  Then said I: “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”

7  But the LORD said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ For you shall go to all to whom I send you, And whatever I command you, you shall speak.

8  Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the LORD.

9  Then the LORD put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.”

This word from God came directly to Jeremiah and it inspired him and gave him the strength he needed in difficult times of stress, pressure, and indecision. God strengthened and encouraged Jeremiah but then God went a step further and told Jeremiah to write these words down so that others in the future could also benefit from hearing the Word of the Lord.

There is no doubt some of the young men God was thinking about included Daniel, along with the three Hebrew children named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. (Daniel 3)

These same words must have been on the Apostle Paul’s mind when he told a young boy named Timothy:

1 Timothy 4

12  Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

13  Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

You are never too young or inexperienced to be used by God. You can know the next decision to make and the direction to take … it is already in you! As well, you can know what you should say to others to encourage them to get right with God.

Do not say I can’t. How will others trust you if you don’t trust the voice of God in you. God will put His words in your mouth. If the counsel you are giving doesn’t move you, it won’t move those who hear you. And, even if others don’t change, you will have given them their best chance and that is all God is asking you to do.

Like Jeremiah – Get up, go forward, and keep going … God’s got this! He won’t let you down.

Find Me A Man

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About 600 years before Christ, God called a prophet named Jeremiah to warn the people of Jerusalem concerning the consequences of their sin. In fact, God called Jeremiah to be a prophet before Jeremiah was even born. (Jeremiah 1:5) Jeremiah’s message however was not very popular, and his insistence on publishing his prophecies finally led to his arrest and ultimately landed him in jail, beaten and in stocks.

Jeremiah was really trying to help but people weren’t all that interested in changing their ways. It seemed like the poor and uneducated people just didn’t know any better and the rich were making a lot of money sinning. Still God was fed up with all the injustice and the immorality of the day.

Several times God had tried to get through to the people but somehow, they managed to sidestep real change and so, Jeremiah was born and became the weeping prophet of God. Let’s read some excerpts from Jeremiah 5: (Again – this is about the year 605 to 600BC. Jeremiah is in his 40’s.) This is the prophet speaking for the Lord to anyone who will listen:

Jeremiah 5 NKJV

1 ¶  “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; See now and know; And seek in her open places If you can find a man, If there is anyone who executes judgment, Who seeks the truth, And I will pardon her.

·        If you can find a man … Find Me a man!

·        Someone righteous, someone true … and I will pardon My people.

2  Though they say, ‘As the LORD lives,’ Surely they swear falsely.”

·        Although they claim to be godly and they say they are doing God’s will … they are liars.

3  O LORD, are not Your eyes on the truth? You have stricken them, But they have not grieved; You have consumed them, But they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to return.

·        God tried to get their attention, but their faces are harder than rock.

·        They refuse to repent.

4  Therefore I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; For they do not know the way of the LORD, The judgment of their God.

·        Jeremiah first thought people were just poor and stupid.

·        He imagined they just didn’t know right from wrong.

·        So Jeremiah decided to go to the wealthy and educated people …

·        Jeremiah even went to the rulers of the Temple …

5  I will go to the great men and speak to them, For they have known the way of the LORD, The judgment of their God.” But these have altogether broken the yoke And burst the bonds.”

·        It didn’t work any better …

·        The rich and educated just sidestepped repentance and kept going.

I’d encourage you to read the whole chapter but for the sake of time here, allow me to skip down to verse 25 and then on to the end.

25 ¶  Your iniquities have turned these things away, And your sins have withheld good from you.

·        God wants to bless his people with money and with things money can never buy … however

·        Your own sins and iniquities have turned and withheld these blessings from you.

·        What’s God saying? – Basically … it’s your own fault … please repent before something worse happens to you and to the nation.

God is not talking about every single person but about a collective people. These are representative of the whole nation, and indeed the majority sentiment did cast a shadow over the nation.

26  ‘For among My people are found wicked men; They lie in wait as one who sets snares; They set a trap; They catch men.

27  As a cage is full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich.

28  They have grown fat, they are sleek; Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; They do not plead the cause, The cause of the fatherless; Yet they prosper, And the right of the needy they do not defend.

29  Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the LORD. ‘Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’

30  “An astonishing and horrible thing Has been committed in the land:

31  The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?

·        You may be prospering now,

·        You may have titles and positions of profound influence,

·        But what will you do in the end?

Perhaps 3 or 4 years after Jeremiah wrote this, in the year 597BC, Jerusalem was overrun and many were taken captive. One of the captives taken from Jerusalem was a man named Ezekiel who was also a prophet of God. Ezekiel prophesied to the captives in Babylon. Guess what Ezekiel said:

Ezekiel 22:30  “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.”

·        God said, “I sought for a man!”

·        Find Me a man to stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land!

·        And I will pardon My people.

Later Jeremiah wrote a letter to the captives in Babylon. You can read it beginning in Jeremiah 29. The prophet Daniel, who was taken captive from Jerusalem read the writings of Jeremiah and believed them. It was these same prophecies of Jeremiah that inspired Daniel to believe in the deliverance God planned for those whom He loved. (Daniel 9:2)

God was searching for a man … and finally 600 years later, He found one!

At the final trial of Jesus under Pontius Pilate, the last effort Pilate made to set Jesus free is found in John 19. Let’s read …

John 19:5  Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!”

God found a Man!!! His name is Jesus.

What does this mean for us? Jesus preached His first sermon about this very thing.

Luke 4

16  So Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.

17  And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

Let me read it … it reads so much better than it preaches … Jesus just read it for His first recorded sermon:

Isaiah 61 NKJV

1 ¶  “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn,

3  To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

Luke 4

20  Then Jesus closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

21  And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

What will you do in the end? Nothing … God found a Man; His name is Jesus. He did it, and a pardon is waiting for you today.

Now all who call upon His name shall be saved.

You will never be too poor or too foolish to miss it, too rich or too educated to discount it. We can’t claim we didn’t know … we all need Jesus, and we need Him every day.

The prophecies of the Old Testament continue to be fulfilled in our day. Do not imagine God is dead or that He has grown tired of being a Father to the rich and poor alike. The New Testament teaches the unfolding plan of God since the foundation of the world. Have you considered: What will you do in the end?

Call upon the name of the Lord and He will save you. Isaiah 61:10 He will clothe you with the garment of salvation and wrap you in the robe of righteousness. Because, He found a Man …

Call upon that Man now … His name is Jesus.

Rock Solid Convictions Part 1: God

 

Have you ever walked through one of those funhouse mirror rooms at a carnival or fair? You step in front of one mirror and suddenly you’re tall and stretched out. You move to the next one and now you’re short and wide. Another one makes your head look enormous and your legs look tiny. It’s fun because we all know something important: the mirror isn’t telling the truth. It’s reflecting you, but it’s a distorted image of who you really are. The image looks real, but it’s not accurate. And the only reason you know that is because you already have a clear understanding of what you actually look like.

 

The same is true when it comes to how we view God. There are many distorted views of God. Some are shaped by culture. Some by experience. Some by pain. Some by how we were raised. And if we don’t have a proper understanding of who God truly is, we will accept the distortion as reality. We will believe something about God that feels good, but isn’t true. That’s why its so important that we view God through the proper lens; through the lens that He has revealed about Himself in Scripture.

 

When you think about God… what do you think about?

 

Who is God to you?

 

Is He distant?

Is He strict?

Is He soft?

Is He disappointed?

Is He proud?

Is He involved?

Is He passive?

Is He watching?

 

Everyone in this room has a view of God. Some of that view has been shaped by Scripture, but some of it has been shaped by upbringing, by personal experiences, by moments of hurt, and by the culture we live in. Whether we realize it or not, we all carry a picture of God in our minds, and that picture influences the way we live every single day.

The truth is, your view of God will shape your life more than you think. What you believe about God will determine how you respond to big and small moment in you life. It impacts hoe you handle success, how you approach obedience, how you deal with sin, how you treat others, how you pray, and even how you worship. A.W. Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Here’s the danger: it is possible to believe in God and still believe the wrong things about Him. It is possible to carry around a version of God in your mind that does not match the God of Scripture. And if our view of God does not match the truth of who He really is, our convictions will never be rock solid.

So before we talk about any other topic, we must settle who God is. Not who culture says He is. Not what He feels like. Not who we think He is. Not who we would prefer Him to be. But who He has revealed Himself to be.

1.   God Is Supreme

Exodus 20:3 — “You shall have no other gods before Me.” 

Supreme means no rival, no equal, no competitor, no substitute.

When we say God is supreme, we mean He stands alone. There is no one beside Him and no one above Him. He does not share authority. He does not co-rule. God alone sits at the top, not because we voted Him there, not because culture agreed on it, but because that is who He is by nature.

 

God is Uncreated
Psalm 90:2 reminds us, “From everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” Everything has a beginning. Everything has been formed. Everything was brought into existence. Everything, but God. He was not shaped, assembled, nor did he have a beginning. He does not evolve or develop over time. He simply is.

 

God is Infinite
God has no limits. No boundaries contain Him. No measurement defines Him. He is not confined by time, space, or human understanding. He does not grow in knowledge or increase in power. He is not improving. He is not declining. He is complete in Himself. His wisdom is limitless. His power is limitless. His presence is limitless. That is what makes Him supreme — there is nothing beyond Him and nothing outside of Him.

 

He is Unchanging
Malachi 3:6 says, “I the Lord do not change.” Culture shifts. Opinions evolve. Generations reinterpret. But God does not adapt to trends. He does not shift with public opinion. He does not adjust Himself to make Himself more acceptable. His character is steady. His holiness is steady. His love is steady. His truth is steady. What He was yesterday, He is today. What He is today, He will be tomorrow. That stability is part of His supremacy.

 

He is Righteous
God does not look outside Himself to determine what is right. He is the standard. He defines goodness. He defines justice. He defines truth. Morality does not shape Him — He shapes morality. We do not evaluate Him by our standards; our standards are evaluated by Him. When God speaks, right and wrong are not up for debate. His nature is the measure of what is righteous.

2.   God Is Good

Psalm 34:8 — “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.”

 

It’s one thing to say God is supreme — that He sits on the throne and answers to no one. But it is another thing to know that the One who sits on that throne is good. Authority without goodness would be terrifying. Power without goodness would make us afraid. But the God who reigns is not harsh, unstable, or cruel. His rule is not reckless. His leadership is not unpredictable. His heart is not cold. His goodness means that His authority is safe.

 

He is Holy

Isaiah 6:3 — “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.”

 

God’s holiness means He is perfectly pure. There is no corruption in Him. No darkness. No moral flaw. He is completely set apart from sin. Because He is holy, He hates sin — not because He is mean, but because He is pure. Sin is destructive. Sin distorts what He created. Sin separates and wounds and corrupts. God opposes sin because He is perfectly righteous. His hatred of sin flows from His holiness, not from cruelty. It is the response of a perfectly pure God to what destroys His creation.

 

He is Loving

 

1 John 4:8 — “God is love.”

 

This love is not sentimental. It is not shallow. It is not conditional. It is sacrificial. God’s love moved Him toward us when we were far from Him. His love sent Christ. His love absorbs cost. His love pursues the wandering and restores the broken. God does not love because we are worthy; He loves because it is His nature. His goodness is not passive kindness — it is active, pursuing, redeeming love.

 

He is Just

Deuteronomy 32:4 — “All His ways are justice.”

 

God does not ignore evil. He does not look the other way when wrong is done. He does not compromise righteousness to make life easier. Justice is not something He occasionally exercises; it flows from who He is. He will make all things right. He will judge perfectly. He will never act unfairly. His justice assures us that evil does not have the final word.

 

God’s goodness is not weakness. It is moral perfection. It means that everything He does flows from a character that is holy, loving, and just at the same time.

 

So when life is confusing, when obedience costs something, when prayers feel unanswered, when circumstances don’t make sense — you settle this: God is still good.

Not because everything feels good. Not because everything is easy. But because His character has not changed. And if His character is good, then even when you don’t understand His ways, you can trust His heart.

3.   God Is Sovereign

Isaiah 46:9–10 — “I am God, and there is no other… declaring the end from the beginning.”

 

God is sovereign. That means He rules. He governs. He is not reacting to history — He is directing it. He does not respond in panic. He does not adjust in surprise. He declares the end from the beginning. Before anything unfolds, He already sees it clearly. Sovereignty means that nothing ultimately escapes His authority.

And He can rule because of who He is.

 

He is All-Powerful
Jeremiah 32:17 reminds us, “Nothing is too hard for You.”

There is no force stronger than Him. No storm overwhelms Him. No enemy intimidates Him. No circumstance limits Him. He is not trying His best — He is limitless in power. Once God puts something into motion, nothing or no one can prevent it. God is not theoretically sovereign, He infinitely sovereign.

 

He is All-Knowing
Psalm 147:5 says, “His understanding is infinite.”

God does not guess. He does not learn. He does not gather information. He is never caught off guard. He sees every detail — every motive, every event, every outcome. He knows your past fully. He knows your present completely. He knows your future perfectly. His sovereignty is not blind control; it is wise and informed rule.

 

He is All-Present
Psalm 139:7–10 declares that there is nowhere we can go to escape His presence.

You cannot outrun Him.
You cannot hide from Him.
You cannot escape His presence.

He is present in the valley and on the mountain. He is present in the waiting and in the breakthrough. He is present in suffering and in celebration. His sovereignty is not distant oversight; it is near involvement. He is not ruling from afar — He is present within the story.

 

That means something incredibly important.

Nothing in your life is hidden from God.
Nothing catches Him off guard.

No time in your life where God is not with you.
He is always with you.
He will never leave you.

 

God is sovereign.

4.   God Is Worth Trusting

 When you combine everything we’ve just said — uncreated, infinite, unchanging, righteous, holy, loving, just, all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present — you are left with a God whose character cannot fail. Every attribute supports the others. His power is guided by His holiness. His justice is shaped by His love. His sovereignty is grounded in His wisdom. There is no flaw in Him, no instability in Him, no weakness in Him.

Proverbs 3:5 — “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.”

 

God is worthy of your trust in Him. God commands us to trust in Him with all of our heart. There is not another person nor any other thing that is more worthy of our trust than Him. You can search the entire world for eternity long and find, that there is none like the Lord.

 

While He is worthy of your praise, the question is have you trusted Him with your whole life? God wants more than your Sundays and Wednesdays, He wants more than your bedight and before a meal prayers. God wants your heart.

Does my view of God match the God of scripture?

Let us stand rock solid in our convictions when it comes to the one true God.

Accessing the Peace of God

 

We are living in a day and age that is more informed and connected than ever before, and yet it seems like we are amongst the most worrisome days as well.

•   Global conflicts

•   Rapid rise of AI

•   Inflation

•   Political divisions

•   Retirement concerns

•   Personal diagnoses

•   Marriage strains

•   The kind of world our kids are growing up in

•   The fear of uncertainty

Here is the truth, people are looking for peace. The world is desperate for it. And you and I can use a little more of it in our life.

Illustration:

I once heard a story of a man. There was a man named Thomas. Thomas grew up poor. Not only was he poor financially, but also mentally conditioned to survive. He worked two jobs his entire life. Budgeted every dollar. Never expected help from anyone. He had an uncle he wasn’t very close to. He was wealthy, successful, but was quiet about it. When his uncle passed away, Thomas attended the funeral out of respect. A few weeks later, he received a certified letter in the mail from a law office. It said he had been named in the will.

He assumed it was sentimental. Maybe a watch, maybe a small check. But when he went to the attorney’s office, he was told that his uncle had left him a substantial inheritance; millions.

More than enough to eliminate debt.
More than enough to change his family’s future.
More than enough to live differently.

The attorney handed him the paperwork and explained the account information. Everything had already been deposited. It was legally his. However, there was only one problem: Thomas didn’t believe it. He left the office stunned. He put the documents in a drawer at home and he told no one.

He kept working two jobs.
Kept stressing about bills.
Kept arguing with his wife about money.
Kept living as if nothing had changed.

After months went by, one day his wife found the paperwork while cleaning. She couldn’t believe it. She marched into the bank with the documents and met with a financial advisor. She found out that it was real. The money had been sitting there the entire time.

They had been struggling… while they were wealthy.
They had been anxious… while they were secure.
They had been living broke… while provision was already theirs.

You see, the inheritance wasn’t the problem, “access” was.

Similarly, you and I have been given an inheritance of peace. That peace is available to us, but we must access it. Jesus talks about this peace in our the scripture we are going to read today.

In John 14, Jesus is hours away from being arrested and taken to trial. He is speaking with His disciples trying to tell them what was about to happen. Jesus knew that His disciples were about to go through the hardest moment in their life. They were going to witness Jesus be arrested and some see him be beaten, mocked, and crucified. All of them would abandon Him. Jesus knew what was coming. And it was in that vein that Jesus shared these words…

John 14:27 — “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

Jesus said that in the most difficult moment of their life, He was leaving them with peace. So before we go any further we must ask the question, what exactly is this peace that Jesus is referring to?

In the new testament, the word peace is used primarily in two different ways:

Peace with God — Position of Peace

Romans 5:1 — “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then you have peace with God. If you have not yet received the free gift of salvation in your life, then the Bible says that you are at enmity with God.

•    Before I received Christ, I was at enmity with God. Because of sin, there was a massive rift in between us and God.

•    There was nothing you or I could do to close that gap on our own. There is not enough good we could do to earn our way back to God. Before Christ, you and I had no shot at getting right with God.

•    But thanks be to God for Jesus Christ for coming for one reason and one reason only, to take your place by dying on the cross. By doing so He paid the debt that we owed and exchanged our sin for His righteousness.

•    And now every person who calls on the name of Jesus will be saved! That is the truth!

•    Peace with God is the most important peace that you and I could have.

•    If you have not accepted Jesus, my prayer is that today would be your day.

The Peace of God — Condition of Peace

This is the peace that Jesus was referring to.

Peace of God = An inward calm and confidence in knowing who God is; regardless of the surrounding circumstances.

Jesus says that He was leaving peace with His disciples; not just any peace, but His peace. This is the same peace that allowed Him to sleep during a storm, stand silent before His accusers, and walk toward the cross with boldness. That same peace He was leaving with His disciples.

This was different from the peace the world gives. The world offers to give us peace that provides a moment of distraction or a chance to escape the worries and stresses of life. It is momentary and fragile at best.

However, Jesus said that He was leaving “His” peace. This is the same peace that has been left to you and I. He was leaving it to us like a legacy. There is a peace available to you and I that resided in Jesus. Let’s dive into it some more.

Peace = (Eirēnē) = Tranquility of the soul; to be free from disturbance

Now it would be nice to be free from problems, free from circumstances, and free from the consequences they bring. But that is not what this is referring to. It is an inner peace that is undisturbed from the circumstances surrounding it.

This is good, but to really understand what this is implying we have to go to the Hebrew.

Peace = (Shalom) = Completeness; Wholeness; Total inward peace

This is a heavenly kind of peace, one that the world knows nothing about. This is peace that only comes from God.

So the question is, how do I find this peace? How do I find peace when…

•   Things are stressful at work

•   The doctor gives you a bad diagnosis

•   Trying to make ends meet financially

•   Feeling overwhelmed and anxious everyday

How do we find this peace?

Isaiah 26:3 — “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

Perfect peace here is actually written as “peace peace.” That is a double peace, a double portion of peace. It says that you will be kept in perfect and heavenly peace when your mind and your thoughts are stayed (fixed) on God.

In other words, peace in our life is determined by our thoughts. There is a battle for peace in our life, and that battle is fought and won in our mind. In fact, just about any battle we face in life is fought and won in our mind.

The Bible says that we are in a spiritual war. This war is a battle of truth. God wants all people to come to know the truth in Jesus Christ. Satan wants to do everything he can to deceive us from the truth, and pull us away from God. One of the pieces of spiritual armor that Ephesians 6 tells us to put on is the helmet of salvation. Why? Because while our soul is saved our mind is not. The one area the enemy wants to gain ground in is your mind. If he can gain control of your mind, then he can gain control of your life.

What we think about the most, consumes us the most. What consumes us the most will control our life. Therefore, it is important that pay attention to what we fix our minds on.

We find peace in our life when we fix our mind on God. That word “fix” means to “lean fully” or to “rest completely.” In other words, to fix our mind on God means for us to rest our minds on the truth of God’s word and lean fully one Him. It means to rest completely on the promises that He has made available to you and I.

So the question is, what are you fixing your mind on? Is your mind fixed on what’s happening in the world around us? Is your mind fixed on the problems you are currently facing? Is your mind fixed on the worst case scenario? If our mind us fixed on these things then we will never experience peace. We must fix our mind on God!

Philippians 4:8-9 NLT

“8 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… Then the God of peace will be with you.”

When you fix your mind and rest your thoughts on the things of God, then the God of peace will be with you!

How do we fix our thoughts on God?

So how do we access this peace in our life? It is found a couple of verses earlier in Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4:6-7

“6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

1.     Don’t worry about anything

•   Refuse to allow anxiety to rule your life

•   Refuse to allow yourself to be consumed by the problems around you

•   Don’t allow yourself to be drowned out by all the worries of life

•   Choose to trust in God instead

•   Don’t make worrying your master, trust in God!

2.     Pray about everything

•   Replace your worries with prayer

•   Don’t ignore the problem, but redirect it to God in prayer

•   Don’t rehearse the situation over and over, but release it to God

•   Worrying is meditation on the problem, prayer is meditation with God about the problem

•   If it’s big enough to worry about, its big enough to pray about

3.     Tell God what you need

•   Supplication literally means “earnest, specific, heartfelt requests”

•   In other words, get specific with God

•   Instead of worrying about the problem, tell God exactly what you need

•   Match the level of detail in your prayer to the level of detail in your worry

•   Whatever you are replaying in your mind specifically, pray about it specifically

4.     Thank God for what He has done

•   Give it to God

•   Begin to thank God for who he is and all that He has done

•   Gratitude is not based on the results but on the character of God

•   Thanksgiving recalibrates our mind (what has God brought me through?)

•   Thanksgiving builds faith while you wait on God (if He did it before…)

•   Thanksgiving is an act of surrender (trusting God with the outcome).

5.     Peace of God will guard your heart and mind

•   When we do these things, we experience the peace of God

•   God’s peace surpassing our ability to understand

•   His peace guards and protects our heart and mind from worry and fear

•   This is the peace that Jesus has given us!

Let me encourage you to receive what Jesus has already given you, His peace. We don’t need more control, we don’t need more information, and we don’t need more distraction. What we need is more of the peace of God in our life. Let’s win the battle of peace by fixing out thoughts on God. Let us stop worrying and start handing the problem over to God in prayer. In exchange, we will receive His peace that guards our heart and mind in Christ Jesus.