Peace

In an effort to mitigate the effects of enforced social distancing, Brunswick UMC is providing daily devotionals for use individually or with your family. Please feel free to share.

Opening Prayer:

Lord, we come to you in the midst of our fears and in some cases in the midst of enforced isolation. We take joy in knowing that we are never truly alone. We pray that you would through your spirit enliven our hearts and help us to feel assured of your promises. We pray all these things in the great and powerful name of Jesus, Amen.

Scripture: Philippians 4:4-7 ESV

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Devotion:

This sounds like “pie in the sky” thinking. How in the world are we supposed to not be anxious? Isn’t anxiety, our “flight and fight” responses built into our DNA? Yes and no. What is called our acute stress responses are triggered by events that are terrifying, and this can be mental or physical. It is a normal response which in turn triggers the mobilization of physical and mental resources. Frequent activation of these responses is dangerous. It is because of these dangers outlined in WebMD that our ability to manage stress becomes important. 
Let's turn to our Philippians verse. One of the meanings of the Greek word chairos, translated as Rejoice is to “be conscious of God’s of/for God’s grace. This is a good starting place for lowering stress and combating the flight or fight response. In order to be conscious of God’s grace, I have to put my attention on God’s grace. I have to re-direct my focus from the stressor to the grace of God. At the end of verse 5, we are reminded, “The Lord is at hand.” Imagine what it might feel like to think of God as near, ready, able, and willing…at hand. I confess thinking of that makes me breathe a little deeper, settles the worries scattered about my mind.

The admonition in verse 6, “do not be anxious” is more like don’t give anxiety a foothold. Don’t engage and embody anxiety. Since you all know I don’t like “just say no” situations, you will not be surprised to see that instead of letting anxiety bleed into your soul and trying to stop the bleeding by saying "No," I am going to like Paul advocate that you in prayer, give those very anxious things that are consuming your heart and mind over to stronger shoulders than yours. With earnest deep prayers, confidently let God know the depths of your fears, your concerns, your worries. Drop them into the well that is God’s grace. When you do this, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” It’s ok if you keep picking them back up as long as you keep giving them back. The more you practice giving them to God and leaving them there, the more practiced you will become at giving them to God and leaving them with God. What are you afraid of? What are you feeling anxious about? Try to give them to God, and try to breathe in God's peace that is not based on what is going on, but is based in who God is.

Closing prayer: God, I struggle. I want peace, but I am quite frankly used to being stressed out. Help me. Show me how to trust you with those things that are freaking me out right now. Help me to feel peace. Help me to be comfortable with the feeling of peace. Amen.

Pastor Yolanda

ywilliams@brunswicklife.org