"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, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:6-7

This verse contains wisdom and instruction we are in desperate need of in our personal lives. I am afraid the familiarity of this verse causes us not to listen attentively, and truly hear what it is saying. If we are honest with ourselves and each other most of us are suffering from anxiety from the cares of this world. Unfortunately, we live more in the physical realm than the spiritual. This is detrimental to all considering the fact the physical is temporal and the spiritual is eternal. We live more by our emotions and what we feel and see than the truth of God’s Word and the person of the Holy Spirit whom Jesus sent when He ascended into heaven. He promised He would be our teacher and lead us into all truth and show us things to come. John 16:13 reads:

"But when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will disclose you what is to come."

In everything by prayer and supplication, and thanksgiving we are to make known to God, our Father, our request. We know prayer is a two way conversation with God. We begin with casting our care upon Him as we share our whole heart with Him being totally honest. Then it is important to listen to what is on His heart. Often He will bring to remembrance scripture to reveal this to us. Sometimes you will hear thoughts coming from deep within; that is Him speaking to you personally one on one. When this happens I journal what I am hearing, so I can refer back to it. There is nothing greater to experience in this life than to hear God’s still, small voice of love speaking to you personally.

Supplication is a word we are not as familiar with today. Although it is a noun it comes from the latin verb, supplicare which means "to plead humbly." It is used sixty times in the Bible. It can logically be applied to any situation where we must entreat someone in power for help or a favor. As followers of Christ we entreat the all powerful, all knowing God of creation. When we get in His presence, and allow Him to magnify Himself to us, He becomes greater than any concern or situation we can encounter.

What is easily overlooked, is thanksgiving precedes letting our request be made known. However, the truth is, when you have had a two way conversation with God almighty, you will easily begin to offer thanksgiving. Your heart does fill with gratitude for His love for you in the midst of our many tribulations on this earth. We realize we are never alone. He never leaves us, or forsakes us, Truth begins to pour in our hearts and minds from the Holy Spirit and expels the lies of our enemy. The end result is the promised peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, filling our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Here in God’s Word you find an antidote for anxiety and depression. All you have to do is obey the instructions He left you in His guide book for life, the Bible. The world offers vain counseling from the futility of their limited thinking leaning to their own understanding. The Bible is filled with absolute truth revealed by the Counselor, the Holy Spirit. John 14:26-27 informs us:

"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

We are not to let our hearts be troubled, or to be afraid. We can accomplish this by listening and obeying what Jesus said. As always, it is the choices we make in our daily lives moment by moment that forms our lives. May we all partake of what Jesus paid a great price for: perfected, unconditional love – forgiveness – cleansing and healing from within and without – and an eternal home in heaven with the Trinity. Sounds like an obvious choice to me!
In His love.

Teresa Roberts

Masterpiece Fitness

www.masterpiecefitness.com

276-237-6680

How easy it is to have no anxiety when we saturate ourselves in His world, and get out of the ungodly world we are now living in. Photos of a hike/run this week at Castle Rock Gorge outside of Floyd Virginia off the Blue Ridge Parkway.