v 7. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
Just as God’s gift of mercy deals with our past, this wonderful gift of God’s Peace deals with today and all the possible experiences we might have. You might be one of the people who wake up in the morning and immediately begin to worry about what lies ahead of you. The bill to pay, the doctor to see, the shopping you can’t really afford, and the one thousand and one other issues that confront you. Frankly, you think to yourself, I’d rather not get up today. It is not so much that there is a lot to do, but it is the worry of managing the details that buzzes around in your mind like a bluebottle. That is the moment to note what is written in v 6: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. It is time to convert your anxious thoughts into prayer – not great fluent and flowery prayers, but the painful, stumbling prayer of ‘HELP – I don’t know how to cope with the shopping today’. Then God, the Giver of all good gifts, promises to give you peace. You don’t earn peace, or even deserve it in fact, but God delights in giving it as part of your inheritance as one of his children.
THANK YOU LORD THAT YOU ARE SUCH AN EXTRAVAGENT GIVER!
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