God's Peace Transcends All

Today’s Bible verse for this offering of Peace is, Philippians 4: 7. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

When Paul writes and speaks, about God’s peace, he is not just telling about what he has heard, but what he has witnessed in his life. He knows this unconquerable peace of God and is offering it to others. 

Paul’s words are being addressed to people who have much to be worried, anxious and stressed about in their lives. He too is a man of God with multitudes of daily persecutions and untold anxieties. Stress stands at his door on every side, yet Paul has given his life to Christ and in doing this, he is able to give everything to Him.

 A picture of a toddler is brought to mind. This child is now discovering things and everything she puts her hands on is brought to her mother. She sees a piece of paper on the floor and takes it to the mother. She sees a piece of dirt, and takes it to the mother. Yes, there are toddlers like that who cannot distinguish between what is appropriate to take up and carry to mother or father. This is what Paul knows as a child of the Father. This is what we are to know as children of the Father. Everything that comes our way, everything, I say, we are to take before Father God. We are to take the good and the bad, for only He can give us the perfect response to whatever comes in our path.

When we do this, we are promised God’s peace. His peace is what we need daily, in the same way we need fresh air daily. Without fresh air we droop and become all unstable and ill. There is a direct link between God’s transcending peace and our daily living. It is peace that you will never understand, for it is beyond the limits of the human mind. Do not try to understand God’s peace. Do not stress over it either, for the deceiver will wear you down with trying to make sense of this heavenly peace. Listen to this. No human mind that ever lived, nor lives at present, nor will live in the future, will ever understand God’s peace. Quit being fooled about trying to understand God’s peace. Instead, accept it, no questions asked, and live the power and promise of peace. What is this power of God’s peace?

It is the power to guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. This is what you are to understand. Unless you have the mind that was in Christ Jesus, this power will not be yours. The mind of Christ Jesus is as the mind of the child who takes everything to the Father. Your mind must learn and continue to learn and practise this childlike way. Take everything that comes your way, everything good and bad; pleasant and unpleasant; wanted and unwanted; of angels and of demons; everything, to Father God.

He gives you His peace that is guaranteed to guard your heart and mind. Why your heart and mind? It is because that is the place where the deceiver scores his victories.

View your heart and mind as the wide open goal or net on a football field. In the same way, your heart and your mind, are as a wide open goal area in the arena of life. Just as it is only when the ball gets into the net, a goal is scored, so too, it is only when the deceiver gets his word into your heart and mind that he scores on you.

 Check out the goal area. There is no covering, no protective structure that can be closed up, each time the opponents are tactically strategizing to kick the ball into your net. The goal is wide open I tell you, and the only saviour to keep the ball out of the open goal, is the goalkeeper. He, or she is the person responsible for guarding the goal, so that no ball slips through the fingers and gets into the net. Jesus is the goal keeper of your heart and mind. You are wide open to all the attacks of the deceiver, but you are not afraid, for with Jesus as your guard, your goalkeeper, your protection, absolutely no opponent will be able to score on you.

Now hear this bold statement. On the football field, the opponent scores because of the failure of the goalkeeper to faithfully and successfully guard the net, ensuring that the ball never gets into the net. No opponent will ever score on me, for never will I ever be able to say that Christ Jesus, my Guard and Keeper, failed to successfully protect my heart and mind from the attacks of the deceiver. No! An eternity of no’s! Jesus will never be taken down, or taken in, by any enemy.  Let me be His living testimony.

As believers who have given heart and mind to Jesus, we must realize that these are the devil’s open goal. Nevertheless, we must be unmovably confident that our hearts and minds are God’s closed goal. How can this be? It is so because God’s peace guards and will continue to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Though heart and mind are open wide as a goal area, this net or area is closed to any opponents of ours, scoring in us, only because of our goalkeeper.

I may not understand how; I may not know when; I may not follow His strategies, but this I understand and know. God’s peace guards my heart and mind so that I am not afraid to be in the game of life. How about you?

Just to know and accept this Word, is peace in itself for me, for who can score on me this day? What about you? Which opponent can get his or her, word, will and way, in me? Who or what is too quick and fast for my goalkeeper? Which opponent is more skilled than my guard? Which enemy has feet that are too swift for my Jesus? What peace! What assurance!

Thanks be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I have His peace that surpasses all understanding.  Amen!