If we are willing to follow basic obedience to Christ by pursuing financial, relational, and spiritual peace, we can have more overall peace in our lives and more effectively point others to Him in our efforts to seek and save the lost.
The peace of God starts in an individual as they receive Jesus Christ as their Lord. But, the peace of God is meant to spread from the individual to a broken world.
Sometimes, the greatest battles we face are the battles within our minds. Jesus, through His finished work of the cross, offers peace there too. Instead of waiting for that peace to come, there are practical steps we can take to cultivate the peace our minds crave.
God created a world at peace, but we broke that peace between us and God through sin. Jesus wants to restore peace and keep our wandering hearts at peace, but we have to set our minds on Him.
Fasting with prayer has been a Christian practice since Jesus came. People fasted and prayed in the OT. Jesus fasted and prayed. The apostles and early church fasted and prayed and God expected that we would fast and pray. Fasting helps to subdue our flesh so that we are more alive in the spirit. Fasting helps to prepare us for deeper and more powerful prayer. Fasting helps us to break the bonds of sin as we humble ourselves and seek the person and presence of Jesus.
Preparing for a fast:
Examine your motives
Matthew 6
Warning against fasting for wrong reasons
Examine your actions
Fasting is not a pleasing work in and of itself
Isaiah 58
Practical
Most fasting was 24 hours, sundown to sundown
Drink water
If you have health considerations with fasting, talk to a doctor
It will be hard
Christians much prefer feasting to fasting! Very few Christians practice fasting because of the difficulty. Allow this to difficulty to take you deep into prayer, asking God to enable you to continue.
If we aren’t receiving answers to our prayers, there are things that we can look toward that the Bible says may be hindering us getting an answer. Perhaps we are praying wrongly by not asking, asking with wrong motives or asking for things outside of God’s will. Perhaps we have been ignoring God’s word and neglecting the poor, disobeying Him, or dishonoring our spouse. Maybe there is sin in our lives that needs to be confessed and repented of.
As this epistle to the Philippians concludes, Paul reflects on a great partnership and reminds us of God’s economy and an eternal perspective on giving.
We have the ability as believers to strengthen the faith of others through our love of Christ. Although others strengthen our faith, it is Christ alone that brings true contentment. No matter what life throws at us, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
What you think about matters. If you’re constantly thinking about your mistakes, your failings, and the shame from your past you’ll stay stuck in the past. If you’re constantly thinking about your fears and anxieties for the future, you will stay stuck in the present. If you allow your mind to dwell on sinful things and go down corrupted paths, you will be miserable.
Paul is pleading with two co-laborers in the gospel to settle their differences and live at peace. He gives some wisdom on how we can live at peace instead of anxious and worried lives.
Paul tells the believers that they should follow his example, and the example of other believers in Philippi. We must learn to keep our eyes on those who follow Jesus, imitate their example of faithfulness and remember that we are citizens of heaven not earth.
Paul reminds us that salvation is the starting line, not the finish line, and true maturity means recognizing we still have more growing to do. Like a runner pressing toward the goal, we must forget past failures and successes and keep straining forward toward deeper fellowship with Christ. And since the race is too hard to run alone, God gave us the church so we can press on together until we reach the finish line with Him.
Paul concludes this thought with a flurry of personal mission statements. He summarizes his life’s mission: to know God and experience the power of a life with Christ through participating in his sufferings. It’s all worth it because he will someday be with Christ.
Paul reflects on all of his pedigree and achievements and declares that none are good places for his confidence. In fact, he throws them all away in order to be found righteous in Christ.
We are told to rejoice and Paul finds no problem repeating that over and over. We have reasons to rejoice! We must watch out for the dogs, evildoers and mutilators of the flesh. But we can tell we are from God if we worship in the Spirit, Glory in Christ, and place our confidence in God.
What would it look like to use what God has placed in our hearts and hands to serve those around us?
God often glorifies himself with small groups of faithful people. The disciples were some of the 500 people who were witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We too are called to be witnesses in our generation.
King David knew that God wanted to use him for His glory, but he faced time in the wilderness. There, a group of 400 loyal and dedicated men joined him and together they changed Israel for God’s glory. There is real power when “I” becomes “We”. We Build This Together. We Invest in Life Change. With 400 dedicated men God changed the course of Israel’s history.
God chooses to accomplish his purposes in His own ways. He sometimes uses small groups of dedicated and obedient people to accomplish great feats for His glory. Even fear-filled obedience is useful to God.
Although we are saved (justified) by Christ, we still have to learn to live in the new reality (sanctification). If we hold onto Christ, we will shine like stars in the sky, drawing others toward the feet of Jesus.