<\/p>\n
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.<\/p>\n
\u2013Psalm 19:7<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If you want a firsthand account of somebody who was at peace no matter what was happening around him, read Paul\u2019s letter to the Philippians. Paul was in prison, potentially facing execution. In addition, there were other Christians slandering him and trying to make a name for themselves at his expense. Paul didn\u2019t worry about those things. Instead, he wrote, \u201cMy circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel\u201d (1:12), and, \u201cI have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am\u201d (4:11).<\/p>\n
What was Paul\u2019s secret for maintaining peace? He stayed in regular communication with God. In Philippians 4, Paul wrote about two spiritual disciplines in his life that allowed him to experience God\u2019s peace. One discipline was prayer\u2013that is, speaking to God. Verses 6\u20137 say, \u201cBe anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.\u201d Just as soldiers march around a fortress to secure it, when you pray about whatever is worrying you, God\u2019s peace will march around the fortress of your mind and protect it from the enemy\u2019s attacks.<\/p>\n
The second spiritual discipline Paul mentioned is meditating on God\u2019s Word\u2013that is, allowing God to speak to him. Verse 8 says, \u201cWhatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.\u201d In this verse, I think Paul was talking about God\u2019s Word. Notice how the psalmist described God\u2019s Word in a similar way: \u201cThe law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes\u201d (19:7\u20138). Reading God\u2019s Word brings God\u2019s peace into our lives. That\u2019s because the Bible is a record of God\u2019s faithfulness to His people. Since God doesn\u2019t change, we can be assured that the same God who was faithful in the past will be faithful to you and me.<\/p>\n
Maintaining communication with God freed Paul from anxious thoughts while he was in prison. He wasn\u2019t consumed by his problems; instead, he was consumed by what God was doing for him through his problems. The same can be true for you. You can experience the supernatural peace of God when you make the decision to let the peace of Christ have the final say in your life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. \u2013Psalm 19:7 If you want a firsthand account of somebody who was at peace no matter what was happening around him, read Paul\u2019s letter to the Philippians. Paul was in prison, potentially facing … Continue reading “Pathway to Victory – Devotion”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194188"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194191,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194188\/revisions\/194191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}