Devotions

We live in a world where we face countless attacks on our peace and this promise comes at the end of the apostle’s instruction as to how we are to deal with these attacks. He says, “Be careful for nothing” (verse 6). The word careful denotes anxiety and worry of an immoderate kind. Instead of giving way to worry, we should make our requests known to God “by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.” If we do this, our text assures us that the peace of God will keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

The peace of God is the calmness that results from knowing that God is sovereign over our trials and that He will never forsake us in the midst of them. It is the firm conviction that since He did not spare Christ but gave Him to suffer in order to save us, He will not fail to meet every other need we have. Filling our minds with these truths, we will experience God’s peace when inordinate anxiety threatens to undo us. God’s peace will come to act as a guard; it will stand as a sentinel. The early Christians were familiar with the sight of the Roman sentinel standing guard, so Paul took that idea to picture God’s peace mounting a guard at the door of the heart and mind of all who are in Christ Jesus.

It is vital to see that this peace comes to us through our union with Christ. That is the channel through which God’s peace flows into us. Are you “in Christ”? Then take God at His word; turn from worry to praise and prayer and receive His peace.