Day 16: A Thankful Heart is a Peaceful Heart

In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul speaks about the peace of God as a guard for our hearts and minds, saying:

"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 comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (NASB)

Then Paul goes on in the next verse (8):

"Finally, brethren, [and this is the conclusion] whatever is true, whatever is honourable, 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, let your mind dwell on these things." (NASB)

However, in order to claim this beautiful promise – "the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" – we have to fulfil the conditions. So let's look at these conditions.

The first condition: renounce anxiety – "Be anxious for nothing". Every time anxiety begins to move in on your mind, refuse it, answer it. Say, "I'm justified, just-as-if-I'd never sinned. God holds nothing against me. I have peace with God. God is on my side. All God's resources are available to me. I refuse to be anxious. It's not sensible or logical to be anxious when I believe that."

The second condition: pray about everything. We are probably familiar with that old hymn which says:

"Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer."

Many times, mental peace is not there simply because we do not pray. We get into a problem or a situation, and we try to handle it in our own resources without praying and turning to God for His wisdom and His resources, which are available to us as soon as we pray.

The third condition: always be thankful. It is not enough to pray; we must pray to God with thanksgiving. A thankful heart is usually a peaceful heart, but an ungrateful person really cannot know true and lasting peace. Ingratitude is just opposite to the whole nature of God.

The fourth condition: think about the right things. Paul tells us what are the right things – "whatever is true" – but it's not enough that it's true because some things are true, but we shouldn't think about them. We shouldn't think about people's faults, failings, even though they may be true, because there are a lot of other qualifications: "whatever is true, whatever is honourable, 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, let your mind dwell on these things". You have the power to focus your mind on what you wish. You can focus it on the bad and the negative, or you can focus it on the good and the upbuilding.

And then, if you're still having problems, invoke the Holy Spirit. Remember, you can call upon Him to help you. Let me just illustrate this with a simple example from nature. In many countries (I think particularly of Egypt), there are two kinds of birds: those that feed on carrion (or rotten meat), and those that feed on fresh meat. Each bird finds what it's looking for, and the same is true of our minds. We can feed our minds on carrion, or we can feed them on fresh meat. We will find what we are looking for. But if you look for the positive, the good, the upbuilding, the edifying, you will find it.