Fully Rely on God
Philippians 4:6-7
Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
What does it mean to rely on God completely? Well, I know what it doesn’t mean – relying on anything else. In math terms, anything other than 100% is defined as not complete. In other words, it puts the question of our coping mechanisms out to pasture. Meaning? No eating our feelings, going on a shopping spree of distraction, drinking until it feels better, giving that person a peace of your mind, watching a little porn to get in the mood, having longer than necessary talks with that coworker because they make you feel wanted, watching that guilty pleasure tv show to escape, actually escaping/running away to another location, exercising manically to make the hurt stop, playing the blame game, smoking down to get calm, being controlling of your kids because you can’t deal with your spouse, pushing your fingers into your eyes – or self-harm of choice, shouting and screaming to get your authority back, putting others down so you can feel good again, drowning out your problems with super loud music, withdrawing and not speaking to anyone, and the list could continue. Yes, I know that there are varying degrees of “coping”, and don’t get on the condemnation train- just because it’s not your particular brand doesn’t change the point. Any time we replace our reliance on God with anything, we are choosing to put road blocks on our own path to Christ. It is our pride shouting, “I know how I can handle this, I’ll just ______ to make it through”. And we all know the pride and fall thing… but a new found visual is that it’s not our pride that we trip over, it is what our pride told us to stick in the road.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Back to those percentages… the point is not that we will evolve to a place that we never see less than 100%, but instead to submit it to God when we don’t.
It is unrealistic to suggest that our lives won’t have difficulties outside of our control. Make the decision today to acknowledge when you feel weighed down, doubled-over, or hunched to one side. Don’t pretend you don’t need to lean, but just be clear about on whom you should be leaning! Cry out to God – Abba Father! And in return, Jesus Christ himself will stand guard of your heart and mind with the unexplainable peace of our Lord.
Prayers and Petition 