The Lord is at hand

This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. I hope you will as well.

We started looking at Thanksgiving this past Friday, and we will continue to do this as we lead up to Thanksgiving Day.

A few moments ago, during our Staff prayer time, the Lord really ministered to me from Philippians 4:4-9. I would like to share a few of these thoughts with you:

Philippians 4:4-9 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians is my favorite book of the Bible, so I've read through it several times. However, as I was reading this morning, I knew the Holy Spirit was wanting to show me something. I reread verse 5, and there it was The Lord is at hand. Think about that for a moment...The Lord is at hand, very near. When you get ahold of that, then you really understand the premise of everything Paul is telling us.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Paul was in prison as he wrote this phrase, not knowing how long he was going to live. How could he be rejoicing during this difficult time of his life? Because he knew, without a doubt that The Lord is at hand.

5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. It's difficult when you are in prison being treated as inferior, and many times less than human, how in the world could Paul be reasonable? The Lord is at hand.

6 do not be anxious about anything, Now, this is truly a difficult one, because I am naturally an anxious person. I battle worry on a regular basis. However, Paul in prison, not knowing whether he was going to see tomorrow or not writes to you and me and says, don't be anxious about anything. Wow! How can we not be anxious? Is that feasible? Only when you realize what he did...The Lord is at hand.

but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Now, Paul takes it a step further. Not only should we not be anxious about anything, but in everything we bring our needs to God with thanksgiving. It doesn't matter how difficult the situation you are facing today, it fits into this everything and regardless of how upset you are about it, the way to bring it to God is through thanksgiving. How can we do this? Remembering that The Lord is at hand!

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. My friends, when we understand that even when we don't feel Him at all, The Lord is at hand, then we WILL walk in the peace of God that we can't even begin to understand, and that peace will guard our hearts and minds from fear, doubt, anxiety, etc.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Paul then explains to us, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the boundaries of what we should think and dwell on. These eight things should be the litmus test of what we allow into thought life. This thought that I am tempted with, is it: true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, praise worthy? If it is, then think on it. If it isn't, then push it out of your mind. When you have a legitimate concern, how can you keep it from causing depression in your life? Remember, The Lord is at hand.

9 What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. And finally, Paul encourages everyone to put into practice what they had seen in him and God's peace would follow. How could he say that? Because he really, really knew that The Lord is at hand.

My question for all of us today is this: Can we truly tell people that if they put into practice what they see in us then God's peace will follow? Or would what we show people lead them to stomach ulcers and fear?

The key is to remember today, whatever happens, whatever you go through that The Lord is at hand. Oh, by the way, at hand actually means very near! That is "shoutin ground!" Blessings!

Pastor Rusty