1 Peter 5:7 states, "Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." God cares for His own people. The previous verse, verse 6 tells us
to, "...humble yourselves under the
mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time."
Pride and arrogance have no place here! Verse 5
tells us that, "...God resists the
proud, but gives grace to the humble." This is a quotation taken from Proverbs
3:34 in the Old Testament.
Let's take a look at a couple of verses in Philippians. Philippians
4:6, 7, "(6) Be anxious for
nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let
your requests be made known unto God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses
understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Where it states 'be anxious for nothing' it means be anxious about no thing.
We are prone to be like Martha in Luke 10:40-42, "(40) But Martha was distracted by much
serving, and she approached Him and said, 'Lord, You care not that my sister has
left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.' (41) And Jesus answered
and said to her, 'Martha, Martha you are worried and troubled about many
things. (42) But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which
will not be taken away from her." We get so easily distracted and
anxious about matters.
Now, what have we learned from Philippians 4:6?
1. Be anxious
about no thing.
2. Let our
requests be made known to God.
3. How? By
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, in everything.
4. When we pray
it has to be with thanksgiving.
What are the results of this in Philippians 4:7?
1. We will have
the peace of God.
2. The peace of
God surpasses human understanding.
3. This peace
will guard our hearts and minds.
4. The peace of
God occurs through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This does not mean that we are not to care about our
responsibilities towards our employers, or our families; after all we are
stewards of all that God has provided us with. 1 Timothy 5:8, "But if anyone does not provide for his
own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is
worse than an unbeliever."
God wants us to be free from anxiety. When the apostle Paul
wrote to the Philippian believers he was encouraging them to bring all aspects
of their lives before God in prayer. Such things as material needs, illnesses, relationships with others, trials and testing times, hopes and fears - to spread them out before the Lord. God does not just
want information from us - He wants us to specifically tell Him what we need.
God already knows the circumstances we are in; however He
wants us to let Him know what we require from Him. He will answer according to our
needs and not necessarily our wants.
I have a lot of wants, but many of those things I do not
need!
If we have the confidence to ask according to His will for
us, then we will have the peace of God guarding our hearts and minds in our
daily circumstances.
Colossians 3:15, "And
let the peace of God rule in your hearts...and be thankful."
Jon Peasey
Biblical Perspectives blog www.jon-peasey.blogspot.com
Ebooks author page https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JRPeasey
[All
Scriptures quoted are from the New King James version; unless otherwise noted.
Words enclosed in [ ] are inserted
for clarity. Words in bold type
emphasise a point. You may
notice some verses are quoted with ...
at the beginning, ending or elsewhere in a verse. Only the relevant part or
parts of the verse, that relate directly to the current subject matter is
quoted.]
[If you have any questions or comments you are
invited to contact me via the comments section below.]
