Pray Your Way to Peace!

"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 guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT)

In Search of Peace?

God wants to give us peace in exchange for our worries! Peace is a gift from our Savior- Jesus Christ. (John 14:27). But just as with any other gift, we must choose to accept it.

God knows our needs and He wants to take care of us. He invites us to bring everything to Him in prayer. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:27 that worrying offer us nothing- not even a single moment added to our life! But by trusting in Him and how much He cares for us we can give Him our cares as as a "trade" for His peace (1 Peter 5:7).

Our communication with God through our prayers must be open and honest. No, there is nothing we can "hide" from God but we can "hold back" things from Him. We must realize that anything we hold back from God, we give up to Satan as an avenue to use in attack against us. Open confession to God lets Him know that we are aware of our needs and we trust His ability to help us. It also lets Him know that we accept responsibility for any sins in our life and that we are ready to release it to Him for forgiveness.

In the beginning of my "true" walk with God, I had some trust issues. No, not trust issues with people- I had "REAL" trust issues. I did not trust God..... I know that sounds horrible. Right? But we are talking honesty here. My talk was "Yes, of course I trust God." But my actions proved differently. I was so used to living my life my way and handling things the way I thought they should be done. Now that I had chosen to commit my life to God I had to give up the reigns of control. And I did..... partially. Well, I knew I was in trouble because God does not want "partially". Was I making a mess? Yes! A mess! But my questions were: "How can I admit to God that I don't trust Him? How can I tell Him I don't know how to trust Him? That would be disrespectful, wouldn't it? WRONG!!!!! God already knew. He was just waiting on me to open my heart to Him truthfully so that He could help me.

Is there something that you are holding back from God in your prayers? He is waiting to take your cares and give you peace. God is faithful. He longs to help us. He wants us to come boldly to him in prayer (Hebrews 4:16). As as we lay down at His feet the burdens of our hearts, He will in turn give us His peace!

Is Your ALL on the Altar?

You have longed for sweet peace; and your faith you increase. You have earnestly, so fervently, you have REALLY prayed. But you can not find rest nor be perfectly blessed until all on the altar is laid.

Dear Heavenly Father, Your Son Jesus Christ has offered us the gift of peace. Help us as we seek you in honest communication to receive it in the manner that it was given---- in LOVE! In Jesus' Name. Amen.