Undaunted.Life: A Man's DevotionalSýnishorn

MENTAL, Day 5: War and Peace As we discussed on Day NINE (MENTAL, Day 2), we should think of our minds as battlefields. When we do this, it serves to remind us that our minds are not always what they should be. Perhaps they need to be sharper or they need a rest, but it is the focus of our minds that affect how we traverse through life. Furthermore, part of this battle is the fight against anxiety. It is this “unknown” quality of our lives that can bury us. We humans are worrying creatures, and it was no different 2,000 years ago for the disciples of Jesus. As Paul is wrapping up his letter to the saints in Philippi, he is exhorting them to control their thoughts. Paul could sense their levels of anxiety about what the future might hold for them, and he wanted to do his best to put that apprehension into perspective. People have a tendency to look into their future. Some think decades in advance and others perhaps only a few minutes in advance, but we all want some idea of what the future has in store for us. We want to see the steps that God wants us to take, and we would prefer not to take any lumps along the way. However, we need reminders that God will honor his pledge to protect us and provide for us. This is especially true when we are going through rough patches. For many of us men, our rough patches vary in severity. Maybe you have lost your job and in turn have lost directionality in your life. Maybe you have become estranged from an important person to you, and you don’t know if the relationship will ever recover. Maybe you have lost a loved one to a disease or an accident, and you are struggling to understand why their time on earth was so brief. In short, Paul’s advice to you would be this: Don’t worry. God’s got it. That is all well and good to hear, but Paul doesn’t leave it there. HOW we avoid worrying is by being thankful, prayerful, and intentional. We should be thankful to God for the blessings in our lives, and we should do that no matter how bad our circumstances seem to be. We should be vigilant in our prayer lives so that God can reveal his peace and understanding to us. We should be intentional about focusing our minds on the praiseworthy things in our world and on God’s goodness. God takes care of every living thing on this planet, and he knows them intimately. Nothing and no one goes without his provision and peace. The key is that we have to continue to remind ourselves of this fact, and we have to keep our minds focused on his goodness when we go through struggles. That is where we find our peace and understanding. What trials are you going through right now that are distracting you away from God’s goodness? How can you retrain your mind to focus on God’s provision today?