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Yesterday, we talked about Paul’s insistence that we do not have to be anxious about anything. Instead, we could pray and ask with thanksgiving, making known our requests to God. Up to this point, we are the ones doing the action. We take on our anxiety by making our requests known to God.

But in verse 7, we discover God’s action. “And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

The peace of God is not some general peace or calmness. It is not “inward peace of soul” that God provides. This expression occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. It is the peace of God Himself. It is the tranquility of God’s own eternal being, the peace that God himself has, the calm serenity that characterizes God’s very nature.

This helps us make sense of the next phrase - Which surpasses (transcends) all understanding. So the peace that God experiences surpasses or goes way beyond our understanding. It achieves far more than our planning or forward thinking could accomplish. It is able to produce exceedingly better results than any human strategy. It is far better at removing anxiety than any intellectual effort or power of reasoning.

The peace of God, which surpasses understanding, Will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. The word “guard” means to stand watch. Paul was under guard while he wrote this letter. The Philippians lived in a Roman colony where they saw guards posted for watch all the time. This peace of God will stand guard over our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So this peace of God will stand guard over the places from which anxiety forms up in us.

This means that in bringing our anxiety to God, we do not just redirect our thoughts to a different topic. This is an appeal to an external source – God Himself – to help us. He responds by giving us the gift of His own peace, which will stand guard over our hearts and minds.

All this teaches us about the possibility of taking on our anxiety in dependence on God. We will not experience complete freedom from anxiety this side of eternity. We don’t know what will happen in our future. Life brings threats, sadness and shock. We naturally experience fear and worry when something threatens us or something valuable to us. But we don’t have to surrender to our anxiety and let it run it’s course. Instead, in dependence upon God, we can learn not to be anxious about anything.

I pray that this word will help you with any anxiety or worry you might have today.

“Lord God, thank you for your willingness to share Yourself with us. We can actually receive the peace that you experience! Yet why should this surprise us? You sent Jesus to show us close up what you’re like. Help us to rest in You and Your peace today.”

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