a quiet day

A dear friend sent this devotional to me and it hit me right where my need is:

GUARD YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS

“Be 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 understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:6-7

If we depend on our own understanding of our circumstances in life, difficult times will always leave our hearts and minds unguarded and vulnerable to evil, destructive forces. Knowing this, Satan will attempt to use times of distress and trial as an opportunity to bombard you with negative thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

Leaning on your own understanding will eventually produce worry/anxiety and bring you into a state of mind that will receive all sorts of convincing negative and destructive thoughts about your life, your circumstances and your future. If you receive these negative thoughts, Satan will then falsely confirm those negative thoughts in your mind with negative feelings and emotions in your heart. I’m sure, for example, that you have noticed that thoughts of discouragement are always linked to feelings of discouragement and despair. Many if not most times, our negative feelings are even more convincing and tormenting than our negative thoughts.
Scriptures show us that only the peace of God is able to guard our hearts and minds from the power of deceptive and destructive influences during times of difficulty. This peace won’t come through positive thinking, mind over matter, or by having a sense of control; it will only come as you let go of personal understanding, insight, and control of your life and trust God instead. It is the result of going to God with your burdens and anxiety and putting everything in His hands through sincere, heartfelt prayers and requests unto Him.

These prayers and requests must be made “with thanksgiving” if they are to be effective; and the “thank-you” shouldn’t just be general, but it should be a specific giving of thanks for answers to the prayers you just prayed. In other words, you must believe that God has answered your prayers as He promised He would (Matt. 7:7). If you don’t chose to believe that God has answered your prayer and begin to thank Him for the answer, you will no doubt leave your time of prayer with your burden still strapped to your back, and your mind and heart still tormented by negative thoughts, feelings and emotions.

An absence of peace in your life is a sure sign that your thoughts and feelings are being used against you. If this describes you, make a decision to stop worrying and to carry your burdens to God in Prayer. If you will do this, then the peace of God then guards your heart and mind, and you will experience true freedom, joy, and life in Christ Jesus.