Philippians 4:4-7 “Rejoice in the Lord Always. Again I will say, ‘Rejoice!’ Let your gentleness be known to ALL men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with THANKSGIVING, let your requests be made known TO GOD; and THE PEACE of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your HEARTS and MINDS through Christ Jesus.”
As I read these familiar verses, I thought how easily read yet difficult to live. But why? With all the discontent, chaos, and mental instability in our lives today, so many are looking for man’s solutions to what ails them spiritually and mentally. In my humble opinion, the answer to why we don’t simply trust God for the answer he promises here is twofold.
First, so many are playing church and not choosing to be the Church. Let me expound. Many are not searching the Scriptures to see what God says, so they don’t know. The second reason is many say they know but don’t really believe it, acting on it.
Those are hard realities, but the truth is stability in chaos is a real promise. In these Words written to Christians, truth offered by Paul, given to him by God, and experienced by him through all kinds of circumstances, he tells us these words are true. They are not some ethereal experience for only the most self-righteous.
These words offer us a reality God wants for his children. Not only so we can experience peace in the midst of crazy. They are to be experienced by us so God can be near through us, to a broken world. The world is unaware of how to stop the madness that they are internally experiencing. The crazy touches Christians too, but should it be experienced spiritually and mentally the same? No! We know the God of peace, who outlines how to experience a spiritual and mental resolve that’s not our attempt at happiness but our choice to put ourselves in the yoke of Jesus and give him our burdens. His return is easy and light. He says it, not me. Why don’t we believe it? Our circumstances inundate us, and we lose sight of him.
Sadly, we can do nothing to stop the pandemonium we are living in. Paul does tell us how we can avoid allowing the pandemonium from getting inside of us. The answers to the spiritual and mental chaos do not have to take us to depths that need mind-numbing medications or some Eastern mystic meditation that eventually leaves us empty at best and wanting to die at worse.
God will always be counter-cultural. He says, rejoices, in the Lord always. This is at all times in all circumstances. And just in case we didn’t get it. Paul says, ‘rejoice again.’ Here is how that looks. The situation, whatever it may be, comes at you. It isn’t easy. It’s overwhelming. Most importantly, it is out of your hands. You cannot buy your way out. You cannot wish your way out. God is inviting you to a place of sanctification. Now to remember he is bigger than anything you face. That’s where the rejoicing begins.
Right from the genesis of your situation, your mourning over what you face is rejoicing. Rejoicing is praising God that he knows, he sees. Then trusting that he will lead you to the answers. His invitation to sanctification is automatically wrapped in his comfort, answers, guidance, and goodness. That becomes visible through you to a watching world.
When we choose to obediently believe through our rejoicing these truths and live them out, they remove the anxiety as a debilitating reality. Though worry may knock on our door, we are so wrapped in God’s Word, written and living, that we cannot hear the knock, and eventually, like a solicitor, it finally leaves. It comes back around, but as we walk in rejoicing, the knock abates.
Here‘s the part that many of us lack, and it’s the reason so many of us lack victory and fall prey to spiritual and mental instability, prayer. Prayer is not a suggestion in the criteria for inward stability. It is required. It must be persistent and edacious in our experience. It also must be sincere. How do we know it’s sincere? The attitude of Gratitude. This is no hackneyed statement the world’s gurus offer. It’s the truth God denotes through Paul that shows your faith in him is real.
Gratitude is the sign that shouts, "I know this thing I’m dealing with is in your hands. I know, whatever the outcome, I am yours, and you are mine, and your banner over me is love. All your gifts are good because you are good, and my will is in your hands. I trust you; therefore, I thank you."
Now you understand why I say most people have not studied to understand these truths. And the others play church and don’t believe them. If these two things weren’t true, why are we not impacting the world more voraciously? Instead, like the Corinthian church, we bicker over inane things that keep our focus on each other, and sadly the world, its people, are going to hell, and we are partly responsible.
Let me end with this encouragement, God’s peace is still available. Even during our Country’s tumultuous upheaval. Even more, God offers spiritual and mental stability through all our individual circumstances. That is not reserved for the holiest people. I don’t personally know any of those people. God wrote this book. He left it for his children. In it, he directs, instructs, warns, demands, admonishes, and encourages. This is not done for his good, but ours. Those who will study, listen, act on because they believe.
Imagine the world watching God’s people experiencing spiritual and mental stability during our craziest times in life? Let’s allow them to see how God can take someone who trusts him, someone who rejoices and lives a life of prayer while showing gratitude for the Only true God through the chaos. They will see how God gives us peace during unexplainable times. Times when peace alludes. Seeing that turns others to Him simply because we obeyed through the most chaotic times of life.
People want spiritual and mental stability. God offers it with caveats. These verses lay out those caveats. You and I, children of God, disciples of Jesus Christ, can live out these truths in his power. He uses us to let the world know, “The Lord is at hand” or near. Whether near in vicinity, through our faithfulness and obedience. Maybe it’s near in that he’s returning sooner. Every day is sooner. I will land in the nearness or at hand that is vicinity. As I live rejoicing, actively in prayer with thanksgiving on my lips, the world will see through all my circumstances, the God of peace. They will see what spiritual and mental stability looks like. They will get to experience through my life the nearness of the Lord.
Here‘s my warning, Folks may say living like this makes you look fake. Living in these realities makes you not relatable. Many people believe those lies. Stop! 🛑 Remember God is counter-cultural; we are to be in the world but not of it. If we want what God wants to give, we must do things his way. His ways are not ours but higher.
Believing what God directs through Paul is necessary for true stability. Acting or being a doer of these truths is necessary to walk away from the empty solutions of the world’s system. The choice is ours. Then the acting on it is an individual choice. Is spiritual and mental stability going to be your choice? Only you can decide.
It is the difference between being the church and playing church. The real Church is being used. Those playing church never experience the peace of God because they refuse to obey what the God of peace directs. They wear the title with no impact. Ouch! Necessary to hear, though. Spiritual and mental stability is available. It really is. Obedience to these verses is tantamount to realizing that reality. Obedience to all He teaches is tantamount to what you do if you say you believe.
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