Philippians chapter 1, verse 1, it says, Paul and Timotheus,
the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus,
which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons, grace unto
you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is to God's saints. God's saints are those sanctified
in Christ Jesus by God the Father in divine election. Sanctified, made holy, made fit,
made perfect in Christ by Christ's one offering at the cross. Sanctified
by the Spirit of God creating a new man within, bringing us
to look out of ourselves and cast it all on Christ. God's
saints are those that Paul speaks about here in Philippians chapter
3. He says we're the, chapter 3
verse 3, we're the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. Our worship's not in the letter,
it's in the Spirit. It's in the new man. We rejoice
in Christ Jesus. We rejoice, we joy in Him. We
have no confidence in the flesh. Not any. God's saints are those
He speaks about on down the page when He says, I want to be found
in Christ, not having my own righteousness, but that which
is through the faith of Christ. God's saints are those who do
what Paul did here. He said, forgetting those things
that are behind every day. For getting those things that
are behind, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high
calling of Christ Jesus. It's those who walk according
to the measure, according to the rule that Christ has taught
them right now. And they trust the Lord to do
the same for their brethren. That's God's saying. That's who's
going to benefit from the word Paul speaks in our text. Here Paul prays for grace and
peace to you and there's 13 epistles that Paul wrote and in all 13
epistles Paul began saying grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. In some of the epistles he says
grace, mercy and peace to you. Now our text is here in Philippians
4 and I want to look at verse 7. This is God's promise to you
who believe on Christ. Now listen to this promise. Philippians
4.7, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, should
keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now believer, do
you want the peace of God to keep your heart and mind through
Christ Jesus? Is that what you want? That's
what I want for each of us. I want the peace of God to keep
our heart and mind through Christ Jesus. The past month, I preached
two messages on the peace of God. The first one, I got right
to the heart of it from Ephesians 2, Christ is our peace. He is
the peace of God. The Lord Jesus Christ came. God
was in Christ reconciling, bringing into friendship all his elect.
He did not impute our trespasses to us. Instead, he made his son,
who knew no sin, sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He did that. He accomplished
that. so that God says He remembers our sin no more. I'll tell you
what God's not doing. He's not keeping a list of your
sins and writing them down and taking snapshots of you so that
one day He can use that and pull all those out and put them together
and use it against you. He's not doing that. That's what
the devil's doing. That's what the devil's seed are doing. That's
not what God's doing. God said, I remember your sin
no more. He said He's just to declare you justified because
He honored His own law for us. Now that's the peace we have
with God in Christ at God's right hand. And then Christ came and
preached this peace to us. And by the Spirit of God He gave
us a new heart to believe in. Purged our conscience to know
this is so. We're perfected by God. God says,
I remember your sin no more. There's no more offering for
sin. There's no more works to do to try to be accepted of God.
And by that, He gave you peace of heart and mind with God. The peace of heart and mind with
God is knowing you have peace with God. that you're now a child
of God, that you have been from eternity. His thoughts have been
thoughts of peace towards you. That now, by the Spirit of God
bearing witness with your spirit, you can cry, Abba, Father. You
can come into His holy presence through Christ, our high priest,
and God welcomes you to pour out all your petition to Him.
And He gives you help. He continues to give you help
in time of need, and he'll never cast you out. That's peace of
heart and mind that he gives us within. Now that was the first
message we heard on the peace of God. Christ is our peace.
And the second message was that wonderful promise from Isaiah
where he says he will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has
stayed on Christ. Because you trust him. Now the
message today dials that in for us. It's teaching us, it gives
us three precepts. of how it is God's child, blessed
by God's grace, kept by God's grace, made to do this by God's
grace. These are three precepts he gives us by which we're gonna
keep our minds on him. And this is how he will keep
our heart and mind in peace, right here. These are three precepts. I'll have a priest through every
epistle of Paul, but almost all of them, and just about every
precept Paul has given. These are three precepts for
peace, for peace. Now I pray the Lord bless this. He says first of all, Philippians
4.4, here the first precept is rejoice in the Lord always and
again I say rejoice. If I'm going to rejoice in Him
always, all the time, what am I going to have to do? I'm going
to have to be thinking of what great blessings I have from Him
to make me rejoice in Him all the time. I have to be thinking
constantly on what I have given freely to me of God. That's going
to make me rejoice in Him always. And then verse 5 he says, let
your moderation be known to all men. The Lord's at hand. The world's running to extremes
from proud boasting to the depths of depression, and believers
can do the exact same thing. This word moderation means patience,
it means calmness, it means steadfastness, no matter what God puts in our
life providentially. And how are we gonna do that?
Always remembering the Lord is at hand. The Lord is at hand. First, I'm gonna have to be always
remembering the blessings I have in Him, rejoicing always in the
Lord. Secondly, always mindful the
Lord is at hand. He's right here present. And
then thirdly, he says instead of being full of anxiety and
worry, he says, verse six, be careful for nothing. Be anxious
over nothing. Don't be filled with anxiety
and worry over nothing. But in everything, by prayer
and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
unto God. And here's the promise. For those
God gives grace to do these three precepts, here's the promise.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Through the ages,
Psychologists and sociologists and philosophers have written
volumes of books on how to have peace of mind. God gives three
simple precepts. Just three simple precepts. This
is it. This is it. He summed them up
over in Romans 12.12. He says rejoicing in hope. That's
what he means here by rejoicing in the Lord always. He said,
patient in tribulation. That's what he means here by
let your moderation be known. The Lord's at hand. Be patient
in tribulation. Continuing instant in prayer. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, should keep your hearts and minds through
Christ. Now here's the first word. He says, rejoice in the
Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. And you can look at
the end, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. The key
to this peace of mind, this peace of God here, is to always be
thinking on the abundant blessings God has freely given to us. There's
an old song, it says, when upon life's billows your tempest tossed,
when you're discouraged thinking all is lost, count your many
blessings, name them one by one, and you'll be surprised at what
the Lord hath done. Each of us that God brought to
cast all on Christ, we should wake up every morning and immediately
start thinking on the blessings we have in God. in Christ. By His sovereign, unchangeable
love and grace, holy God has chosen me to be His child. I
ought to wake up every morning and remember that. God has sovereignly,
freely chosen me by His unchanging, indestructible love and grace
to be His child. God's my Father. He blessed me
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
from eternity. So that in Christ I've been holy
and without blame before Him in love. That's what you should
remind yourself. And think on that all the time. Remember that from everlasting
He predestinated you to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself. Why do you believe? because of
his predestinating grace. You're accepted in the beloved,
believer. What else could be bad news knowing
God accepts you? I have redemption in Christ's
blood. I have forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. Been made righteous, been made
perfect, been accepted of God by Christ's blood and obedience.
Think on this, if you're gonna rejoice always, folks get all
down in the mouth and troubled and other believers, and why
don't they just do this or that? Why don't you just rejoice always?
When you see that, just rejoice. There's nothing to be sad about.
Why don't you just rejoice? We need God's grace, don't we?
We need God's grace. In the face of every trouble,
even before it comes, keep your mind and your heart set on the
blessings you have in Christ. You know, God's placed us in
a country where we can come and hear the gospel praise. We can
pick up a Bible and read it. We don't have to worry about
going undercover at darkness and having to put a guard out
here to stand guard. We can worship God. And not only
that, He's given you faith to believe Him. We take for granted
what power it took to give us life and faith in Christ. It
took the same power it took to raise Christ from the grave.
It's not an easy thing to believe Christ. Most of the time we don't. It's not easy and yet he's given
you faith to believe him and keeps you believing him. Ah,
what abundant reason we have to rejoice. You remember when
you couldn't believe Him? You remember when you couldn't
believe Him? You ever been in a season where you couldn't believe
Him? You ever been in those seasons
where you just can't? You can't do anything godly.
And yet He keeps you, He keeps giving you grace, He keeps keeping
you in faith, keeps keeping you trusting Him. What a reason to
rejoice always. We can't rejoice in ourselves.
We can't rejoice in this world. Why? Because we just sang it. We change. Everything about us
changes. One we can rejoice in is Christ.
He does not change. Same yesterday, today, and forever.
He never changes. We can't rejoice in our circumstances. We find way too much peace in
the sun shining. That's not peace. So God doesn't
let it stay around very long. He gonna change our circumstances.
We can't find peace in them. But there's one that never changes,
that's Christ. And the peace we have in him
is, it never even has a shadow of change. Rejoicing in the Lord
always is not only for our own peace, it's for the good of brethren. When our hearts are breaking,
when we can't eat, when we're hungering for the bread from
heaven, when we're truly fasting, remember what our Lord told us?
He said, wash your hair, clean your face, that you might appear
not unto men to fast, but unto thy father which is in secret.
Thy father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. In
other words, don't put on a sad face when trouble comes and it's
heartbreaking, and your heart's breaking, you can't, You're just
down in your heart. He said, but don't fast to be
seen of men. Wash up, clean up, rejoice always. That's the cure for discord.
There was two sisters here that were having trouble. Remember,
Philippi is the church where the Lord sent Paul to the river,
and he opened Lydia's heart and gave her faith. And there were
some women in this church that had helped Paul. And now these
two sisters in Christ are offended at each other. And Paul says
this right on the heels of beseeching them to be of one mind. Why? Because the cure for discord
is rejoicing in the Lord always. That's the cure for discord.
Rejoicing in God brings the believer personally in concord. It makes you of one mind and
one heart with God in heaven in Christ. You have communion
with Him. That's concord with the Lord. When you're seeing
Him and knowing Him and rejoicing in the blessings He's given you,
you're in concord with Him. And that's what He's going to
bless to bring you in concord with your fellow brethren. Of
one mind in Christ. We're always rejoicing in the
Lord. When we are, we're less likely
to give offense and we're less likely to take offense because
our minds are occupied with better things than things below. You got your affection set on
things above. You're not easily distracted
by the stumbles and troubles of brethren. We're remembering
we're dust ourselves, so's our brethren. but you're rejoicing
in the Lord always. And you know he's the master.
He's able to make his people stand. And that brother who's
rejoicing in the Lord, that's contagious. That's encouraging
to God's child. Listen to this from Psalm 34
1. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord, and the humble shall hear and be glad. Oh magnify
the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. I used to get down and one of
the first five years here I was down a lot. I had men constantly
telling me, do something to show us you love us. Constantly. They're not here now. And I called Brother Don and
he'd be bearing some things that I knew he was bearing that was
troubling. And he always said this to me,
we got so much more to rejoice in than we do to be cast down. Always, always. He gave us beauty for ashes,
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning. I'll greatly
rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
covered me with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
That's what he did. And you hear a brother remind
you of the Lord our God as a father and a friend and a comforter
and a savior and a redeemer and a continual help. That's encouraging. That's encouraging. The Lord
will bless that, he'll bless that and the peace of God which
passes all understanding, he'll use it to keep our heart and
our mind. Go back and read this epistle
and take note of how often Paul speaks of his joy and his rejoicing
and their joy and their rejoicing. And then remember, Paul's in
prison. Most of the church have left
him and forsaken him and think he's a false prophet. They're
running around saying, do something to show us you love us. He's
locked up in prison doing the greatest thing he can do. He's
preaching the gospel to them. And rejoicing the whole time.
They're not, those that are against him, he is. He is rejoicing the
Lord all the way. Here's the next precept. Let
your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
When troubles surprise you, When troubles come on you, or when
great bounty comes, it's easy to rise up or be cast down before
we know it. But the Spirit of God settles
His child, He gonna bring to mind the Lord is at hand. The
Lord's at hand. He's telling us be mindful that
our sovereign Savior is ruling all. Providence is His hand and
He is at hand. Everything that's happening in
Providence is His hand and He is at hand. We're not simply
running a race. We're running a race set before
us. Every hill, every valley, every
curve, every obstacle, every good time, every trouble, the
rain, the storm, the river, the fire, it's all set before us. And he's working every bit of
it for the good of his people, and he's at hand. He's at hand. He's with us. He's at hand. If
men praise you, Let it go in one ear and out the other. Don't
be lifted up. And when they criticize you, don't let it cast you down. The Lord's at hand. He's at hand. Look to Him. He sent them. He
sent them. He sent the one praising you
to show you just how fast you'll be puffed up if He doesn't keep
you humble. And He sent the one that's criticizing
you. to teach you to be long-suffering and patient, and to remember
He's at hand, and show you how fast you'll be cast down if He
don't work that in you. If you have prosperity, thank
God for it, but don't set your heart on it. Don't make it your
treasure. And if He puts you in dire poverty, if He takes
everything away from you, Don't let it get you too down in despair. God is at hand. He's doing it
all. Look to Him. Don't let anything
in this world be your peace. Don't let anything in this world
be your peace. Nothing. It's going to save you much sorrow. God will not let His child find
peace in this world. He just won't. He's going to
take away anything and everything that comes between His child
and Christ. We can count on it. That's what
He's going to do. That's mercy. That's grace. That's
His loving kindness. And when God takes it away, He's
telling us here, rather than to just act like everything's
blown up and gone awry, remember God's at hand. God did it to wean us from this world, to
teach us something of His grace and that He's our only need,
our only Savior, our all. That's why He does it. That's
why He does it. He takes away our idols to keep
Christ alone being our peace. Christ said this, peace I leave
with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth. The
world gives us a kind of peace. Christ said that's not the peace
I give. That's not the peace we're talking about here at all. Let not your heart be troubled,
he said. Why would our heart be troubled?
We're trying to find peace in this world. And that's when our
hearts are troubled, when that peace is disrupted. Don't let it be afraid. He's
our peace. That does not change. Can you
hear that? That doesn't change. And I'll
tell you something. It takes much trouble and much
of Him taking from us and giving to us and showing us what we
are and how changing we are and how he never changed. It takes
him doing that over and over and over through our lives to
make us get what we're hearing here, that he alone is our peace.
It never changes. These things I have spoken unto
you, Christ said, that in me you might have peace. In the
world you shall have tribulation. Be of good cheer, I have overcome
the world. Every promotion we get in this
world is God at hand testing us. It's either going to prove
to be a blessing, well it's going to prove to be a blessing however,
whatever comes to pass, whatever we do, whether we try to get
carried away in it or he takes it from us, it's going to prove
a blessing if we're his because God's going to teach us that's
not your peace, that's not your salvation, that's not your security.
He is. Set your affection on Christ
our Sovereign who rules all things in heaven and in earth just for
His people. Rejoice in the Lord when you
have other things to rejoice in. Rejoice in the Lord when you
have other things to rejoice in. Remember, whatever that other
thing is, He gave that thing, but that's not my true rejoicing.
He is. Let him alone be your peace even
when other things bring you peace. Remember, he's my only peace.
This thing here that I'm taking so much peace and solitude in,
everything's calm and everything's happy right now and I have some
peace. When that thing is gone, and
all the peace that it brought is disrupted, and you have no
peace at all, and you're brokenhearted, and you're down, and you're out,
and nothing in this world will comfort you whatsoever, this
is what you're gonna find. Down in here, and there at God's
right hand, your peace hadn't changed. I'm telling you something, Rob,
that's true. and you're gonna have to suffer losing whatever
it is that's giving you peace in this life to know, he's my
peace, it never changes. Now here's the last word. Be careful for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God. Now notice there, be careful
for nothing, but prayerful in everything. Carefulness is what
today we call having anxiety, call it worry, call it stress,
and when we're overwhelmed with it, we call it panic attacks,
and so on. Now, I want to be a comfort here.
I do. I want to be a comfort here.
I probably wouldn't have been this way 10 years ago, or maybe
four or five years ago. But I want to be a comfort here.
I don't want to be without empathy, and I don't want to be without
compassion. God's people are not stoics. No. The Pharisee is, this is right,
this is wrong, that's it. You don't want to meet God there.
You don't want to meet God there. If the love of God's in our heart,
we've been given a heart of flesh. We've been given a heart that
feels. That brother-sister is our own body. They're bone of our bone, they're
flesh of our flesh. We're in the body of Christ.
They're our own body. They're a member of that body.
And your heart mourns for them. Your heart breaks for them. When
they're troubled, you're troubled. If we've not gone through what
another has gone through, the best thing for us to do, and
this is the best thing for us to do at all times, even if we
have gone through it, don't weigh in on it, unless we're asked. Don't get involved. Henry used
to say, don't trouble trouble until trouble troubles you. Because if we've not been there,
if we not walked there, we got nothing to say on it anyway. And here's what I'm wanting to,
and if you wait a little while, God'll see to it that you see
it from a different perspective. If you don't see it now and you
look down on it and you wonder how could they do that, just
hold on a little while. God will see to it. He'll show
you a little bit more what you are and you'll see that suffering
brother from a whole different perspective. You'll learn now,
okay, I might've opened my mouth a little too quickly. Believers can be anxious. Believers
can have anxiety. The scripture speaks of feeble-minded.
That's not an insult to a believer. You and I all have this to some
degree. There's seasons where we're just
feeble-minded. And you can have anxiety, you
can have panic attacks, you can be overwhelmed. David said, he
said, my heart's overwhelmed within me. David described it
like drowning, and that's what it feels like. That's exactly
what it feels like. Listen to me now. This is what
the Lord is teaching us here. Nobody else is going to help
us. Nobody in this world is going to help you. Go to the Lord. Go to the Lord. Count your blessing. Count what He's given you and
what you have in Him until you're just lost in it. Until you just
can't think of nothing but the rejoicing you have in Him. And don't be tossed to and fro
by whatever it is he's put in your life. Remember, and think
on this, he's at hand. His hand is right here. He's
brought this to pass just for you, believer. If somebody's
here today that you want to hear this, that you think could benefit
from this, please give this to them, because I'm probably preaching
it for them. I'm not saying I know who I'm
preaching it for. I'm just saying, give it to Him. Because He's
at hand. This is for people that are troubled.
This is for people that have anxiety. This is for people that...
And believers do this. We do this. But He says this. He says when
this is the case, and you have trials, and you have daily needs,
He says, pour your heart out to God. Think on the blessings
you have in Him. Remember He's at hand. Go to
Him and pour your heart out to Him. Oh, there's one you can
go to. I love brethren. I want you to
trust me. I want to trust you. But something I've learned, God
says don't trust any man. I don't trust myself. We're not
supposed to trust ourselves. Lord, I'm calling on the Lord.
Lord, don't let anything in this life be my treasure. Keep you
being my treasure. I don't trust myself for that.
I need Him to do that for me. But I'm telling you this, there's
one you can trust. There's one you can pour your
heart out to. Every detail, every sin, the
thoughts that only you know that are sinful, the deeds you've
done that are sinful, everything you are about yourself, you can
pour it out to Him. And He promises His child, because
Christ has put away our sin, He said, I'm not going to turn
you away. I'm going to have mercy on you. He knows everything about us,
not just omniscient. He knows us because He's been
where we are. He's walked where His child's
walked. There's not a trouble you have in this life that Christ
don't know it infinitely better than you know it. Go to Him. He is our ever-present help in
trouble. He is at His throne of grace. It's not that He's going to give
you out of His abundance and take away from some of His riches.
It never runs out. He will give to you what you
need. Here's something we need to remember
now. Don't forget this. Most of the time, our trouble,
and I want us to get to the heart of what it is. Most of the time,
it's not what we need, it's what we want that causes us anxiety. That's covetousness. The Lord answered that. He said,
it's not the life more than meat and a body raiment. If I don't
have it, I don't need it. Life's more than that. In fact is, we usually lose by
gaining. If he gives it to you, you're
losing back because you know what happens? Then we start having
anxiety over losing what we gained. People think if I just have plenty,
I won't be so worried and anxious anymore. You talk to anybody
that has plenty and they're as anxious as a man that don't because
they don't want to lose what they got. You're going to have
anxiety on either side of that fence. There's only one place
you're going to have peace. Sometimes our carefulness and
our worry is nothing but pride. That's all it is. Thinking we can fix it. Listen
to what the Lord said about that. Which of you, with taking thought,
can add to his stature one cubit? I don't know what that means
exactly. Cubits, what, 16, 18 inches? You can't add a second
to your life. You can't change one thing that's
going on in your life. and it's pride to think we can. If you then be not able to do
that thing which is least, why take you thought for the rest?
That's Christ. There's always in all of it a
degree of unbelief. He said, if God closed the grass
of the field, which today is and tomorrow is casting the oven,
Shall he not clothe you, O ye of little faith? Now, you might
not be troubled right now. You might not be anxious and
careful and worried over anything in your life right now, because
everything's smooth sailing. Tomorrow, if you walk in, the
boss says, I'm laying you off. Come back and listen, because
you'll find out you've got a little faith. And it's unbelief, brethren.
Listen to what he says. Take no anxious thought, saying,
what shall we eat? What shall we drink? Where will
the shall we be clothed? Your heavenly father knows you
have need of all these things. Why did he give it? What's all
this about? Here it is. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. These other things will be added
to you. Take, therefore, no anxious thought for tomorrow. What? How? What? Aren't we silly? I
have brand new carpet where I live. Brand new. And from the door
down the hallway to the bedroom back, I have just about walked
a hole in that carpet. So stupid. Just dumb. Just pacing, walking, praying,
begging. I can't change anything. I can't
do anything. Why take thought for tomorrow?
Is there not enough today? Don't you just need grace to
get you through? I just need grace to get me to
this hour. I'm not even worried about the end of the day, much
less tomorrow. He said, I'll give it to you.
I'm provided. I know what you need. I'm going
to give it to you. Trust him. The cure for carefulness and
worry and anxiety is go to him. Go to him. Pray to him. Pray
to him. You pour out your heart to Him
and do it with thanksgiving. Remember this, in everything
give thanks this. It's His will for you to give
thanks. But this, whatever it is He's put in your life that's
causing you anxiety and trouble, this is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. He gave this to you right now,
personally for you. To do what? make you count your
blessings and remember what all he's given you so you rejoice
in him, to make you remember he's at hand, don't be troubled,
and to keep you coming to his throne of grace, pouring it out
on him, making your crest known, and thanking him for what he's
doing. And you know what he says he'll do? The peace of God will
keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. This is a peace
that's, it's beyond all understanding. It passes all understanding.
I ain't even gonna try to explain it to you. You gotta experience
it, don't you? No believer can tell you what
it is. It passes understanding. But you know when you got it.
You know when you got it. The work of righteousness shall
be peace, and the effect quietness and assurance forever. The mountains
shall depart, the hills will be removed. All these things
we want, all these things we're just, oh I need this plea, I
need this temporal thing. The Lord said every bit of it's
going to depart. bit of it. Why are we feverishly
working our fingers to the bone for that which God said when
He comes back, if you have your hands full of it, it's going
to vanish. All the works men are working
and thinking they're going to come to God, He's going to be
pleased with all these works I've done. The Lord said when your flesh dies,
all those works are going to die. But Christ and what He's accomplished
for His people will never change. It'll never end. And when everything
you look at is gone and dissolved, it'll be there. He'll be there. There's your peace. There's your
peace. What happens when that table
starts getting more narrow and more narrow? What happens when
that funnel starts coming down and down and down? Where's it
in? Face to face with Christ. That's how narrow the gate is.
That's how narrow the way is. I said that one time to a brother.
I said, I'm trying to preach as narrow as I can preach. He
said, then preach it as narrow as Christ. That's where we're coming to,
Christ. That's one thing needful. Father, bless this word. Help
your people that are troubled. Help us to have this peace of
God that passes knowledge. Make us know You are our peace.
Never changes. Give us grace, Lord, to rejoice
in You always by remembering what great things You've done.
Give us grace to not be tossed here and there and lifted up
or cast down or run to any extreme in anything in this life. Remember
You're at hand. Always at hand. And help us,
Lord, in every situation at all times to be in continual communion
with You, making all our supplications known, making our requests known,
thanking You for whatever it is You've given us. Lord, by
this we ask You to keep our mind in peace. Lord, that's all we
need really. That's all we need. We just need
Christ our peace. Forgive us, Lord, for our unbelief
and our covetousness and our pride and all our sin and all
this anxiety and trouble. Oh, Lord, we're dust. We're just
sinful wretches. Lord, save us. Forgive us, Lord. We ask you in Christ's name.
Amen.