A Heart Of Thanks: Has Peace

Peace comes to those who think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

 

Philippians 4:2-9 Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. 3 And I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.

4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again--rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. 6 Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done.

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. 8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me--everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

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You cannot be full of joy and have a thankful attitude if you are arguing or if you are worried about something. The enemy hates peace and he will find a way to make it difficult to "think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise" when somebody has done you wrong, when somebody sees things differently or when difficult events comes our way.

Being thankful, rejoicing, and praying all work together to produce a peace that surpasses understanding. I need to decide to be considerate even if I don't want to be or feel like it. Sometimes it is a deliberate choice that goes against our real desires.

Prayer is a great way to change my attitude so that I can have peace and be thankful, Paul told the Philippians not to worry, tell God what you need and thank him for what he has already done. When I pray I can thank God for revealing the end of the story, I know he has the solution for my sin, I know that he is in control and I know that someday peace will be an eternal condition.

Help me Lord to be thankful for those around me even when they don't do things my way or when they treat me poorly. I want to dwell on the things that are excellent and worthy of praise so I can appreciate the people and the circumstances in my life and live with peace.