Isabella Spiva
Philippians 4:6-8

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.

Philippians 4 verse 6 through 8. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with all thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Welcome to the Bridgeway Christian Church daily Advent devotional for Monday, December 9th.

My name is Isabella Spiva and I serve on the HSM student leadership team at Bridgeway. Today I’m going to talk about peace through prayer. During the Christmas season, sometimes it feels like peace is the last thing I have time for.

There’s so much going on and peace seems unrealistic. Maybe you feel the same. Maybe you feel so overwhelmed with everything around you that there’s no room for peace or for prayer.

Even when Christmas points toward peace on earth, I find it hard to experience that for myself. I think it’s time to consider that my problem is not the lack of God’s gift of peace, but my lack of reaching for it. Here’s a short story from my life that I thought would be helpful in representing the topic of peace through prayer.

At the start of the school year in August, I got my class schedule. I figured out pretty fast that I wouldn’t be able to take a modern dance class that I was planning on taking. My schedule was full with all of the other courses and classes that I wanted to take, and I had to settle for taking a ballet class instead.

It’s such a blessing that I’m able to take any dance class this year. However, that’s not the point I’m trying to make. What I want to get across is that dance was not my priority, so I couldn’t take the class.

This situation deeply reminds me of seeking peace through prayer. How can you expect to have time to pray if prayer is not your priority? Why would you expect to see an abundance of peace in your life if asking God to bless you with his peace is an occasional afterthought? Just like I settled for a less ideal dance class in my example, we often settle for a less ideal version of peace. The world says that self-talk, self-care, and self-help will bring you peace.

This is not true. There’s only so much of ourselves we can rely on, and there’s also only so much of our friends, family, and therapy that we can rely on too. Worldly help will run out, but God’s love will not.

Psalm 56 verse 8 says that God has kept count of our wanderings and put our tears in his bottle. Think about it. Is there anyone you know, even yourself, that knows the exact number of tears you have cried? My answer is no way.

God is the only one who perfectly understands every type of chaos in my life, so wouldn’t it make sense that he is the only one who can give me the peace that I need? Micah 5 verse 5 calls Jesus the source of peace, and that’s exactly what he is. Jesus gives the only true peace, the knowledge and understanding of life in him and his love for us. What the world offers, a cheapened, deluded version of peace, is not what God intends for you.

Jesus says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give you. John 14 verse 27. Jesus gives peace through the Holy Spirit, which is not how the world gives peace.

And because Jesus gives peace differently than the world does, we as believers should be looking for peace differently than the world does. We should be seeking peace through prayer, asking God to give us more of his perfect rest and trust in his presence and goodness. Today and this Advent, I hope that you will spend time praying and reaching for the peace of Jesus, knowing how much peace he has in store for you.

God’s peace surpasses our every expectation. Let’s pray. Dear God, I pray that this Christmas season and Advent that you will flood each and every one of our hearts with your peace and your goodness.

I pray that we will have the courage to understand that your peace is for us and that we just have to accept it and you will give it. Lord, we thank you so much for every blessing you have bestowed upon us, and we pray that we will be more willing to accept your peace and reach for it. Thank you so much that you are so good and that your peace is better than anything we could ever imagine.

We love you so much, God. Amen.

 Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.