Silas
Beloved of All
Your honesty about feeling overwhelmed and anxious is heard, and it is good that you have brought this to the Lord in prayer. He wants you to live in peace, and He has made a way for you to know it even while the pressures around you remain.
Scripture makes a distinction that can help you. First there is peace with God, which comes only through the blood of Jesus Christ who made peace between us and God. When you have put your trust in Him, the war is over, you are no longer running from God or fighting against Him, and you belong to Him. Then there is the peace of God, that steady keeping of your heart and mind that Jesus spoke of when He said, My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, and that the New Testament describes as a peace that goes beyond human understanding to guard your heart.
Many who already have peace with God still live without that daily peace of God because their minds are pulled in every direction by worries and tasks. The promise is, You will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. That perfect peace comes as your mind is turned toward Him and stays there. When you keep your eyes on Him instead of on how you will handle everything yourself, His peace begins to fill your heart. Even small things can overwhelm us if we think we must carry them alone, but there is nothing you are facing that He cannot handle.
That is why grace comes before peace. You cannot earn peace by trying harder to be good enough or to get everything right at work. Peace comes as you rest in His grace, trusting that He has already done the work to make you accepted, and then committing yourself fully to Him. Total commitment to Him is actually a place of rest, because you are no longer telling God what He must do for you, but simply placing yourself in His hands and accepting that whatever He does is for your good. His thoughts toward you are thoughts of peace, to give you hope and a future. He has not forgotten you.
Prayer is the path into that confidence. Often prayer begins with petitions, bringing your needs honestly before God, and then as you continue to look to Him it moves into confidence and even praise before you have seen the answer. Like David when he was pursued and distressed, you can turn your difficulty over to God and then declare your confidence that God is your helper and the one who upholds your life. You can call upon Him evening and morning and at noon, crying aloud with the assurance that He hears your voice. As you do, confidence and assurance come, and you are able to ride out the storm because you know God will take care of it.
I am praying for you that God will quiet your anxiety and replace it with that steady confidence in His care, that He will help you with every task at work and give you wisdom from above which is peaceable, and that He will make you a sower of peace in your workplace. Where you sow peace with respect and kindness toward others, you will reap a harvest of righteousness, and in the peace of that environment you will find more peace yourself.
May the Lord keep your mind stayed on Him today, fill you with His peace that passes understanding, and give you rest as you trust Him to carry what feels too heavy. May He give you confidence not in yourself but in His faithful help, and may His peace be evident in your work and in your relationships there.
Scripture makes a distinction that can help you. First there is peace with God, which comes only through the blood of Jesus Christ who made peace between us and God. When you have put your trust in Him, the war is over, you are no longer running from God or fighting against Him, and you belong to Him. Then there is the peace of God, that steady keeping of your heart and mind that Jesus spoke of when He said, My peace I give to you, not as the world gives, and that the New Testament describes as a peace that goes beyond human understanding to guard your heart.
Many who already have peace with God still live without that daily peace of God because their minds are pulled in every direction by worries and tasks. The promise is, You will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. That perfect peace comes as your mind is turned toward Him and stays there. When you keep your eyes on Him instead of on how you will handle everything yourself, His peace begins to fill your heart. Even small things can overwhelm us if we think we must carry them alone, but there is nothing you are facing that He cannot handle.
That is why grace comes before peace. You cannot earn peace by trying harder to be good enough or to get everything right at work. Peace comes as you rest in His grace, trusting that He has already done the work to make you accepted, and then committing yourself fully to Him. Total commitment to Him is actually a place of rest, because you are no longer telling God what He must do for you, but simply placing yourself in His hands and accepting that whatever He does is for your good. His thoughts toward you are thoughts of peace, to give you hope and a future. He has not forgotten you.
Prayer is the path into that confidence. Often prayer begins with petitions, bringing your needs honestly before God, and then as you continue to look to Him it moves into confidence and even praise before you have seen the answer. Like David when he was pursued and distressed, you can turn your difficulty over to God and then declare your confidence that God is your helper and the one who upholds your life. You can call upon Him evening and morning and at noon, crying aloud with the assurance that He hears your voice. As you do, confidence and assurance come, and you are able to ride out the storm because you know God will take care of it.
I am praying for you that God will quiet your anxiety and replace it with that steady confidence in His care, that He will help you with every task at work and give you wisdom from above which is peaceable, and that He will make you a sower of peace in your workplace. Where you sow peace with respect and kindness toward others, you will reap a harvest of righteousness, and in the peace of that environment you will find more peace yourself.
May the Lord keep your mind stayed on Him today, fill you with His peace that passes understanding, and give you rest as you trust Him to carry what feels too heavy. May He give you confidence not in yourself but in His faithful help, and may His peace be evident in your work and in your relationships there.
