As we continue to look at Philippians 4:7 and some of the incredible benefits that flow from walking in God's peace, I would like to develop part A. We have already talked about P representing God's Presence. And E representing engage in peaceful/positive thinking. Now letter A touches on the idea of "assuming responsibility." To me this is one of the most critical and crucial aspects of peace.
Before I really began to be intentional about practicing God's peace in my life I was a "blame-shifter." I knew there were some issues and deficiencies in my life that I kept nice and tucked away so that no one could see them. As long as I avoided certain trigger points I was able to keep up the nice little facade. Everything was good. When the trigger points did activate these broken places in my life I would play the blame game. It's really a fun game; it has no rules and just about everything and anyone can play whether they want to or not. "It's his fault that I'm like this." "It's because of what so and so said." "If I hadn't grown up this way I wouldn't be like this."
Do you see the pattern? "If....then..." The only problem with this little game is that we never change when we play it. We are conscripted to repeat the same script over and over again--just with different people/factors at fault each time. One day it hit me: "wait a minute...the only person responsible for me is me." I had began to practice God's peace: I was spending time in His presence and my thinking was being transformed. I realized that God's peace gave me the emotional and intellectual courage to begin exploring why I wanted to blame other people/factors for my issues instead of assuming responsibility for them and embarking on the healing process.
I really think the main issue is this: fear. We are afraid to be honest with ourselves. We fear digging up past memories and traumatic experiences. We fear being transparent before God and other "safe people" in our lives. And so we keep putting on the facade and act indignant when other people "push our buttons." I love how the Amplified translates Phil 4:7.
And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Isn't that powerful? Fearing nothing from God. There is a place in God's peace where we are no longer controlled by fear. This isn't just a "Boo...I'm going to scare you in the dark fear." This is real fears that control people's lives: fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of the future, etc...
God's peace comes and sets us free from fear! In so doing, we are free to assume responsibility for our lives. Why is this such great news? Simply because it means that we don't have to be a victim of circumstance anymore. We can determine and decide what our responses will look like. Obviously, this decision doesn't necessarily make things better over night. We are talking about a process here. This process though will ultimately result in wholeness for our wounded hearts.
P. Presence. E. Engage in wholesome thinking A. Assume responsibility.
Before I really began to be intentional about practicing God's peace in my life I was a "blame-shifter." I knew there were some issues and deficiencies in my life that I kept nice and tucked away so that no one could see them. As long as I avoided certain trigger points I was able to keep up the nice little facade. Everything was good. When the trigger points did activate these broken places in my life I would play the blame game. It's really a fun game; it has no rules and just about everything and anyone can play whether they want to or not. "It's his fault that I'm like this." "It's because of what so and so said." "If I hadn't grown up this way I wouldn't be like this."
Do you see the pattern? "If....then..." The only problem with this little game is that we never change when we play it. We are conscripted to repeat the same script over and over again--just with different people/factors at fault each time. One day it hit me: "wait a minute...the only person responsible for me is me." I had began to practice God's peace: I was spending time in His presence and my thinking was being transformed. I realized that God's peace gave me the emotional and intellectual courage to begin exploring why I wanted to blame other people/factors for my issues instead of assuming responsibility for them and embarking on the healing process.
I really think the main issue is this: fear. We are afraid to be honest with ourselves. We fear digging up past memories and traumatic experiences. We fear being transparent before God and other "safe people" in our lives. And so we keep putting on the facade and act indignant when other people "push our buttons." I love how the Amplified translates Phil 4:7.
And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Isn't that powerful? Fearing nothing from God. There is a place in God's peace where we are no longer controlled by fear. This isn't just a "Boo...I'm going to scare you in the dark fear." This is real fears that control people's lives: fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of the future, etc...
God's peace comes and sets us free from fear! In so doing, we are free to assume responsibility for our lives. Why is this such great news? Simply because it means that we don't have to be a victim of circumstance anymore. We can determine and decide what our responses will look like. Obviously, this decision doesn't necessarily make things better over night. We are talking about a process here. This process though will ultimately result in wholeness for our wounded hearts.
P. Presence. E. Engage in wholesome thinking A. Assume responsibility.
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