The Peace of God

Chances are that right now, something in your life is causing anxiety. Perhaps you may have a big decision in front of you that you are not certain about, and as a result your thoughts think of nothing else that what the future holds. Or maybe the stresses of your career and family stack up on you until you feel like you can’t breathe. It could be your marriage, or a season of parenting, a health problem, or the pain of seeing a loved one suffer. Perhaps you can’t even sleep anymore because you can’t seem to turn your mind off. Or maybe you just have a low-grade anxiety when you think about your entire life. Wherever you are today, whatever your source of anxiety is, the invitation from the Lord is to come to him with your burden. Come to him with your worry and find rest in him.

The words we consider today have been to many of us a steady hope in times of trouble. They are within themselves a little school that teaches us how to learn the peace of Christ; not at the end of our trials, but in the midst of them. Our text shows us the place of prayer as the cure for our anxieties, which will bring us true and lasting peace with God. Peace for the Christian is not found in the happenings of the world. Peace for the Christian is not found by “looking within” ourselves either. Peace for the Christian is found in Christ alone. As we look at Philippians 4:6-7, we will see a command, an instruction, and a promise for each of us as we come to know, and grow in, and treasure “The Peace of God.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. In what area of your life do you need the peace of God today?
2. What role does prayer play in your life as you fight anxiety?
3. Why does Paul mention four different phrases for prayer? Talk through each of them and their role in our prayer life.

PRAYER

Pray that we would know and grow in the peace of God by growing in the practice of prayer.