Verse: Philippians 4:6-7
6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Devotion
What do you do when someone throws something at you? Hopefully you catch it, right? If you went outside right now and someone surprised you and threw a ball at your face, you’d have a reflexive response. You’d either duck, catch it, or get hit.
I feel like this verse could become similar if we practiced it enough. Are you anxious? Stressed? Worried? What is your reflexive reaction? Is it to just keep focusing on it and let it suck you down the spiral of anxiety? That’s like watching the ball come at your face and giving up.
The other option is to develop a Philippians 4 reflex:
Step 1: Pray and ask for God to intervene in your anxiety.
Step 2: Make gratitude a part of your prayer.
Step3: Keep praying.
Sounds so easy doesn’t it? Of course it’s not though. It takes practice. It takes repetition. I was a catcher when I was growing up and playing baseball. I was good too. But, clearly, I wasn’t good enough. At catching a ball. People get paid millions of dollars to catch balls on TV while we yell at them if they don’t. They practice and practice and practice. It becomes second nature to them.
That is what we can develop in our lives if we choose to. We can practice: every time we face an avalanche of anxiety, we pray for peace. Every time we stare down a tidal wave of worry, we pray for peace. Every time a tsunami of stress threatens to destabilize our our interior life, we pray for peace.
Especially those of us who deal with stress and anxiety on a regular basis (count me in!) we need to practice, practice, practice. This verse isn’t a magic formula. It doesn’t work that way: feel stressed, pray one prayer, BETTER! Nope. It is a call to a lifestyle. A discipline. A practice.
Every time anxiety comes near, we can develop a practice where we instinctively start to pray and be thankful. This connects us to our heavenly Father, his love, his protection, and the truth. It changes our perspective, and lifts our spirit. I encourage you today to start making this your reflexive response to anxiety every day!
Prayer
Thank you Jesus for your peace that passing understanding. I pray that you would fill me your peace this morning, and hold back the power of anxiety in my life.
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