Week Six: Hard To Understand Peace

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.

PHILIPPIANS 4:7

 

Have you ever experienced an overwhelming sense of peace when you should have been totally wrecked by fear and worry? A little more than a dozen years ago, my husband, whom I call "Rev" because he's a preacher, came down with an illness that had some of the same symptoms as congestive heart failure. After more than a year of appointments and tests, the doctors finally determined that he had constrictive pericarditis and needed an operation so difficult and dangerous that it was hard to find a doctor willing to do it. Then God provided. He not only provided the surgeon, He also provided peace-a peace that we still cannot understand or explain. Sure, we had moments when we were anxious, but most of the time we just did what had to be done and prayed like crazy. Philippians 4:6-7 says, "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace." The secret to experiencing God's hard-to-understand peace is not in positive thinking or running from our problems. It's in surrendering every worry and fear to God in prayer, remembering that through Christ Jesus our future is secure. No matter what we're going through, God is in control and He is able to give us the peace we need even when we're facing the most unimaginable circumstances.

 

 

Journal Questions:

Think of someone you've known who has exemplified God's peace while living through challenging times. Journal your observations of how their faith seemed to help them.

 

Remember a time in the past when God gave you peace that was hard to understand or explain. What happened? How did it make you feel? 

Why do you think it can be so hard to give up our struggles to God sometimes?

 

Write a prayer on the following lines surrendering what you're anxious about and ask Him to once again give you the gift of peace.

I would love to hear feedback on what you thought about this week's lesson. Send me a text or email with your thoughts and let's get connected!