The God of Peace Will Be With You
Daily Scripture
Philippians 4:4-9
Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad! Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise. Practice these things: whatever you learned, received, heard, or saw in us. The God of peace will be with you.
Daily Reflection & Prayer
Paul told the Philippians to be glad in the Lord. Then he said it again, in case anyone missed it the first time. He didn’t leave them to figure out how on their own. Bring your requests to God, he told them, not vaguely, but specifically, with thanksgiving attached.
That instruction sits inside a passage framed by nearness. It opens with the Lord is near and closes with the God of peace will be with you, and everything in between is Paul explaining what to actually do while you wait in that nearness.
He also told them where to put their attention. Focus your thoughts, he wrote, on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable, not a feeling to fake, but a choice about where the mind goes once nothing is pushing it there on its own.
Then one instruction closer to home. Practice what you learned, received, heard, and saw in me, he wrote, not new information, but what they had already watched him live out in front of them.
None of this was Paul promising the Philippians a feeling. He was promising them a presence, one that follows real prayer rather than a mood summoned on command. The same holds for us. When we bring what’s true and name what we need, that presence meets us too.
- Paul told the Philippians to bring specific requests to God rather than carrying vague anxiety. What’s one specific thing you’re anxious about right now that you haven’t actually put into words, even in prayer?
- Paul asked the Philippians to deliberately direct their thoughts toward what’s true and good. What does your mind default to when you’re not being intentional about where it goes, and what’s one true thing you could choose instead today?
Prayer
Lord, thank you for your presence, even in the middle of my worry. Help me bring you the specific thing I’m carrying instead of carrying it alone. Teach me to give thanks even before the worry is resolved. Show me where my thoughts default when I’m not paying attention, and turn them toward what’s true instead. Amen.
GPS Insights
Gwyn Thomas
Gwyn Thomas, who serves as Director of Donor Relations at Resurrection, wrote today's Insights. She is a Boston native who’s happily adjusted to Midwestern life. She loves working in ministry alongside her husband Blake, a Congregational Care Pastor at Resurrection Leawood. They enjoy life with their two children, and an unapologetically large orange cat named Tuna. When she’s not chasing toddlers, she enjoys pottery, traveling, and finding new favorite restaurants.
My family has become bi-coastal as we’ve married and expanded. Most of my extended family remains on the East Coast, but I now also have a sister and brother in Seattle, so I fly fairly often to visit family and celebrate special occasions and holidays. I also completed my undergraduate degree in Chicago, so I have important friendships that have moved themselves around the country, too. If I had to take an average of the number of flights I’m on each year, it’s probably around five. So, when I tell you that I don’t particularly like flying, you can imagine that I get plenty of opportunities to practice managing my anxiety.
There was one particular flight I remember that had a decent amount of turbulence from takeoff to landing. By the middle of the flight, my hands were completely clenched around the armrests, my eyes were shut tight, and I was taking short, shallow breaths. It was taking everything in me not to start crying. I felt so nervous being that high up and having absolutely no control over what was happening.
Then, I felt something in the deepest part of my core. An all-knowing voice is the only way I know how to describe it. It said, “Do you really believe this was all I have planned for you?”
It was the first time I understood what it meant to experience the “peace of God that exceeds all understanding.” The plane didn’t suddenly stop shaking. I didn’t suddenly love flying. I was still nervous, but my entire body relaxed, my hands unclenched, and my breathing slowed. The fear that had felt completely overwhelming moments before no longer had the same hold on me. I turned on worship music in my headphones, took some deeper breaths, and trusted the voice I had heard inside me.
I know that moment was a blessing from God, and I’ve carried that reminder with me ever since. When I feel overwhelmed or anxious, I come back to that question: “Do you really believe this was all I have planned for you?”
I don’t always know what God has planned. I don’t always know how a situation will turn out. But I can remind myself that I am not alone in it. The God of peace is with me, even when I can’t see what comes next.
And sometimes, that is enough to unclench my hands.
