I don't know about anyone else, but I find myself to be one heck of a worried individual at times. I'm always worried about passing an exam or having enough money in my bank account, etc. I feel like we all have times like these where we let our current situations make our minds feel uneasy and troubled. Whenever you feel this way, I encourage you to meditate on Philippians 4:6-7. It reads "Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 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." I find it so comforting that my Lord and Savior is telling me not to worry, he's basically saying "chill out, I have everything under control!" However, we must notice here that he doesn't just say to stop worrying solely, He tells us clearly to substitute that with prayer. Doing this will only give us the peace that we are yearning to have in difficult times in our lives.
I remember how stressful my last semester of undergrad was. It was a really tough time. I felt like I had so many thoughts bottled up into this little mind of mine and it was really getting to me. I was nervous that I wouldn't do well in my courses and I even contemplated not going straight to graduate school although I was accepted and everything was set for me. I was allowing my troubling situations to take over my mind and what God had planned for me. One day in my dorm room I got on my knees and cried out to God because I was so tired. I was tired of school, I was tired of certain situations I was seeing, I was just plain tired of thinking so much. As I was praying I heard God tell me that I was going to enter into my season of rest. I wasn't quite sure of what that meant. Later that week an elder at a church I visited confirmed those exact words to me. After sometime I finally understood what God was trying to tell me. Here's what it means: whenever God gives us a promise, it is already fulfilled. It is up to us to match our faith with that promise to see it come to past. To rest means to fully dwell and believe in the promises that God has freely given to us. See, when I was in that tough time in school, I was worrying and not praying. I wasn't resting in the promise that says
"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!" (Philippians 4:13). If I did, I wouldn't have felt as stressed and overwhelmed mentally.
We must remember when God gives us the promises mentioned in the Bible for peace, prosperity, a sound mind etc., they're not just mere words that we read during our devotional time. They are there for us to take in and to rest in, even if that situation looks opposite of what it should be. In Romans 4, it says that against all hope in hope Abraham believed in the promise that God gave him on receiving his son Isaac. Although he had to wait 25 years for the promise to be fulfilled, his faith was never wavered. It was strengthened instead. Abraham rested in the promises of God because he knew that whatever God said would never return back void.
Today I encourage you to look up some promises that God has given us that pertain to a current situation that you're in. I want you to start replacing your worries with prayers (Philippians 4:6-7) and then I want you to read those promises with confidence. Rest in them! Have a sound mind knowing that you can rest in your promises that are to come.
God bless you!
-Jan S.
xoxo
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