Could You Use A Little More Peace?

Have you ever felt like you had the wind knocked out of you? You're doing everything you know how, including prayer, fasting, sowing, serving...you see progress and then WHAM! The thought, the action, the incident happens. I am so grateful that I have the Word of God to comfort me. One of my go to scriptures when it gets really hard is Psalm 34:18

If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there; if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.

So BREATHE! Yes, doesn't that feel better? The Word of God tells us to "Be Anxious for nothing: In Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Beloved, When we’re suddenly shaken…it’s so easy to become a victim..and when we do that, we give away our power…here’s what I mean…

Have you ever been doing great, and then someone says something, or you see something… you remember something from the past… and suddenly your peace is gone?

Suddenly you feel like a failure. You wonder why you’ve done what you’ve done, or why you haven’t done more, or why you haven’t done things differently. And as you begin to think about it… a cloud of depression comes to block out the warmth and contentment you felt just moments ago.

Kay Arthur shares an instance when her youngest son was leaving to go back to college after spending a weekend at home. She prayed for his safe journey, then turned to finish her nap…but as she did her mind begin to race …wondering if she had been a good mother, if she adequately prepared her son for life…and all the “if only’” and “what ifs” began to attack her. And just like that… her peace was gone…can you relate?

What happened? Nothing had changed… but her thoughts. Yet that was enough to change the entire atmosphere of her afternoon. Her joy… was turned to mourning…and peace to turmoil. Rejoicing over recent spiritual victories was now overshadowed by doubts, inadequacies and fears. Not because of anything her son had done…but because of her own mental turmoil…because of a thought process. This is so…real…I can relate

Recently…as we’re ending the 1Q …I was reviewing my goals to track my progress…and I immediately took the negative route versus the positive route. Looking at what I had not accomplished versus what I had. Questioning myself…what have you been doing… After a few minutes of wallowing and almost getting depressed…I took a step back to RE-LOOK and RE- Focus – Re-Assess

Where do these thoughts come from… And… what do we do when this happens?

Kay says and I agree… we often forget that we are in warfare and that Satan’s target is our mind. Why because as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. It’s only logical that the enemy would attack our mind.

This is why according to Ephesians 6:6-17 God has resourced us with the Shield of faith, to extinguish the flaming missiles of the evil one, along with the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. Along with the other pieces of armor.

This is what we have to do. Purposefully “choose to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2Cor 10:3-6) and he gives us what to think on in Phil 4:8