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Do not be anxious about anything, 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 your minds in Christ Jesus.(1)
For many years, the first of these two verses has been a familiar “go-to” for me. Paul encourages us not to be weighed down by anxiety, but rather to bring everything to God in prayer, trusting that He is greater than any situation we may face. Over time, i’ve found this to be sound advice and have endeavored not to let anxiety take hold.
However, i must admit that i have often overlooked the next verse about the peace of God. That may seem odd to you. You might wonder, if anxiety is surrendered to God, shouldn’t peace naturally replace it? For me, it was confidence and assurance—confidence that i could entrust anything and everything to God, and assurance that He is able to take whatever was intended for bad and turn it into good. My faith in God was unshakeable on that point—or so i thought.
That changed for me a few weeks ago when i was told that i might have metastatic lung cancer that has spread to other parts of my body. For those of you who have followed this blog over the past six years, you know that i rarely write about myself. Typically, I focus on the lessons learned by the Israelites as they followed God from Egypt to the Promised Land, or on the experiences of the disciples of Jesus and the early church, and what we can learn from all of them.
i’ll return to that focus in the weeks ahead, but today i feel compelled to share what God has been showing me about His promise of His peace. Why? Because i believe many of you, like me, may have handed your anxieties to God in prayer, yet find they keep returning—not because we doubt God’s ability, but because we haven’t allowed His peace to fully take over.
You see, Paul describes it as a peace that surpasses our understanding. And like many things, if we can’t fully comprehend it, we struggle to embrace or hold on to it. In my search for a deeper understanding of this truth, I began to envision that God not only guards our hearts and minds with His peace, but floods our hearts and minds with it.
When our hearts and minds are flooded with His peace, there is no room left—not even a sliver—for anxiety to return. Peace fills us to overflowing!
On August 30, 2004, just three weeks after my family and i moved to Richmond, the remnants of Hurricane Gaston stalled over our city and triggered fatal flash flooding that claimed multiple lives and caused millions of dollars in damage to the city’s historic Shockoe Bottom neighborhood.(2) Many of us who lived here that day remember it vividly. By God’s grace, i narrowly escaped being trapped in one of the flooded areas, due to an appointment that took me outside of the storm’s path just a few minutes prior.
But when i think about God’s peace flooding our hearts and minds, i don’t imagine a flood like that of August 30. Instead, i think of the flood in Noah’s time, which covered absolutely everything. Nothing could survive that flood that wasn’t in the ark. And in our case that ark is God’s peace. When His peace floods our hearts, there is no space left for doubt … or worry … or anxiety.
God has shown my wife and me that the flood of His peace can cover it all. We’re still early in our storm, but we’re trusting Him to keep His promise throughout it all. i have no doubt that God will be faithful. Please pray with us that we’ll continue to surrender everything to Him in prayer, and remain flooded with His peace. And i promise to do the same for you—whatever your storm or circumstance may be. Please let me know so we can encourage each other along the way.
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By the way, i do not plan to use this blog to post updates about my medical condition. If you would like to join with us in prayer and stay informed about our journey, you can do so by visiting our Caring Bridge page by clicking HERE.
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You can read God’s promise of peace in the fourth chapter of The Letter of Paul to the Philippians.
(1) Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV)
(2) As reported by CBS Channel 6, WTVR.com
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