Truly contented people are extremely rare, aren’t they? Why? Because the Enemy has perfected the act of robbing us of our peace. A contented Christian, despite their unlikeable situations, will project loudly the image of Christ. Others notice someone who hangs on to peace in the midst of calamity.
It takes something beyond ourselves to do.
It is so easy to get sucked in by the Enemy. He can be so persuasive and persistent and one of the most effective ways he affects us is with our very own minds. Have you ever allowed yourself to be deceived by rumors, gossip, the media, or friends and/or family to believe something that is not true? Of course! We all have. And in doing so, we have become so emotionally unraveled. We have read between the lines, often misinterpretating the truth. Have you allowed your mind to start wandering to such an extreme that you already imagined the worst-case scenario for your family or your life? Have you set the movie reel in motion playing out in your mind how you will react in a “make believe” situation? It is amazing how we allow ourselves to get so worked up and troubled by something that is not even true! Do you watch the news or hear about a friend of a friend and then become consumed in worry thinking about “What would I do if that happened to me? How would I react? Who would I call?”
And before we know it, we have allowed ourselves to become consumed with worry and anxiety over a “falsehood.”
A falsehood is something that has not even happened to us. It is not the truth. And that dear friends, is exactly the lie that Satan wants us to believe. He wants us to be so worked up and troubled, that we lose sight of God’s eternal perspective.
Phillipians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
We often twist this verse and rather than reading it as a prescription for peace we turn it into a no-fail prescription for anxiety. Beth Moore in Breaking Free: Discover the Victory of Total Surrender (p. 71) came up with a clever paraphrase with illustrates our typical, negative approach: “Do not be calm about anything, but in everything, by dwelling on it constantly and feeling picked on by God, with thoughts like ‘and this is the thanks I get,’ present your aggravations to everyone you know but Him. And the acid in your stomach, which transcends all milk products, will cause you an ulcer, and the doctor bills will cause you a heart attack and you will lose your mind.”
You have been given authority over your thought life and the way you access that authority is through prayer.
Prayer. It truly does change things. It helps us see things from God’s perspective. It clarifies our view. Unfortunately we run everywhere else looking for answers or worrying our pretty lil’ heads before we even think to take the matter to the Lord in prayer. For this reason, we must remind ourselves we do not need to worry about a thing. God’s got everything under control. We pray, not so God can know us more, but rather, so we can know Him.